


Luck of the Blade

by Salistina



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama & Romance, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 10:24:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 24,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3378020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salistina/pseuds/Salistina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maruha has no chakura, which marks her as disabled among the ninjas. Inspite of her disability, she impresses the hokage, or compresses his skull. Either way, she's won the first of many battles. But she only plays one part in this world of ninja.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Unique Disability

-Luck of the Blade-

First off, I'd like to say that I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. Besides, if you sued me, you'd get all of fifty cents. ^/^

With that out of the way, this story takes place just after the Zabuza saga, 'cause that's my favorite part of the whole series. Besides, I didn't really buy Old Man Hokage getting knocked off like nothing when he IS the Hokage. Also, this story takes place right after the Zabuza Saga because that's all I had seen when I'd first conceived this fanfic.

I'm trying my absolute hardest to make the characters act naturally. (Erm, except for Old Man Hokage. I'm gonna play with his character.) Please let me know what you think! Let me know if anybody was out of character, if there is any bad grammar or spelling, or if it's perfect(I can hope, right?). So, please read and review!

XXxxxXX

Kakashi sat quietly reading his favorite book, Icha Icha Paradise. He'd decided that, after their last mission, his team deserved a lunch out. Naruto poked him.

"Hey, Sensei! You're not going to skip out on us just before we get the bill, are you?" Naruto glared at Kakashi.

"What ever made you think I would do that?" Kakashi asked, not even looking up from his book while he ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Naruto has a point, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura chimed. "You always seem to have something to do just as we finish."

"SSSLLLLLUUUURRRRRPPPPPP!" Naruto sucked down another bowl of Ramen noodles.

"Naruto, you baka!" Sakura yelled. She swung her foot up and brought it down hard on the annoying blonde's head.

"Ow! Sakura!" Naruto rubbed the steaming lump on his head.

"Hnn." Sasuke said.

"Was he annoying you, too, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said sweetly. Sasuke gave Sakura a Look. "Ehehehe. Nevermind." Sakura rubbed her head sheepishly. AAAHHHH! Inner Sakura yelled. How am I supposed to make you fall in love with me when you look at me like that?

Kakashi staightened suddenly. Naruto glanced up mid slurp at Kakashi.

"What's wrong, Sensei?" he asked.

"I hear someone's footsteps, but I don't feel a chakura presence," he muttered. He turned his head to look at a girl with long, red hair tied back into a ponytail. She smiled at him, then started skipping towards their group. Naruto and Sakura watched her uninteresedly. Sasuke tensed.

"No chakura," he hissed. "How can that be?" The girl stopped infront of Kakashi, leaned forward slightly, then tapped Kakashi's headband.

"Where can I get one of these?" she asked.

XXxxxXX

"Well, it's and odd occurance, Maruha-san" said Hokage. "But if you still measure up as a ninja with your disability, then you can become a leaf village ninja."

"Arigato gozaimasu, Hokage-sama! (A/N Thank you very much, Lord Hokage!)" the red-headed girl, Maruha, said.

"Now, the only difficulty will be testing you." Hokage puffed on his pipe as he thought. "Well, Kakashi's only got his students to train, so I'll have him test you. Hey, Secretary!" A distraught looking man poked his head through the door.

"You should call me Iruka. And I'm not your Secretary, Hokage-sama."

"Yes, yes, Icha-ya." Iruka turned red.(A/N: A 'ya' is like a shop. wink) "Just get...You know...Fellow with grey hair?"

"Kakashi-san?"

"Yes, that's the bloke." Iruka pulled his head out of the room. Maruha looked at the Hokage for a second.

"Icha-ya?" she said as she cocked her head to the side.

"Kids these days! Need a good shakin' up!" the Hokage wheezed. Maruha nodded her head apprehensively.

XXxxxXX

"OK, Maruha," Kakashi said. "I'll be running you through the basic tests, excluding the chakura ones."

Maruha nodded.

"Right," she said. Kakashi pulled out his favorite orange book. Maruha raised her eyebrows. "Cocky, aren't we?" she muttered.

She skipped forward lightly and snatched Kakashi's book, holding it open to his place. Kakashi's eye widened. He made a grab for the book. Maruha bent over backwards into a hand spring, then landed a few feet away. She grinned, sunk into a crouch, then started reading Kakashi's book. Kakashi charged forward. Then dropped to one knee as he threw a kick aimed at Maruha's face. She leaned back slightly so his kick connected with his book, and sent it flying away. Maruha watched with interest as the book sailed into where the Hokage was watching. Maruha flatened her on the ground, slidiing her feet into Kakashi's standing foot. He pitched forward onto her leg, which he grabbed. Kakashi then stood up quickly, so that Maruha was dangling by her ankle. The Hokage yelled. Kakashi glanced up towards the Hokage for a split second, in which Maruha's foot attempted to connect with his nose. Kakashi blocked the kick with his hand, grabbed Maruha's other ankle,then flung Maruha over his head. Maruha grabbed Kakashi's headband as she sailed over his head. She slowed slightly as Kakashi's headband came off, allowing her make a sliding land on her feet. Kakashi spun around to face her. Maruha noticed the long scar running down Kakashi's closed eye.

"Good enough!" the Hokage hollered. "She's Jounin level!" Kakashi raised his eyebrows. He looked at Maruha, who was giggling.

"I'll bet," Maruha whispered to Kakashi, "Hokage-sama doesn't think we'll notice that bruise your book made."


	2. Volumizing Shampoo

Well, yays! I got a review! Thank you! I hope I can keep writing silliness in, while still holding true to the original characters(except for Old Man Hokage ^-^). let me know how I'm doing!

XXxxxXX

To set the tone, please start humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.

Maruha peeked around a tree. Kakashi was crouching at the edge of one of the rivers that flowed through the leaf village. He chuckled quietly to himself.

"Target is in desired location," Maruha whispered into her ear mike. A crackly voice replied:

"Great! Push him in!" Maruha cleared her throat. "Erm-I mean, 'Proceed with plan 'A!'' Maruha grinned. She crept forward quietly.

"Hello, Maruha," Kakashi said. Maruha stiffened slightly.

"Target has seen through approach. Suggested course of action?" Maruha muttered into her ear mike again.

"Push him in quick!" the crackly voice yelped. Maruha flinched. Kakashi looked at her with bemusement. Maruha put on a huge innocent grin.

"Proceed with plan 'F,' Naruto," she muttered through her grin. Slightly louder, she said, "Haha! Good catch, Kakashi! I should have known you'd see through our plan!" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow.

"You had to go to a plan 'F?'" Kakashi said.

"Ah, yes! Plan 'F's' full name is 'Failed Attempt! Admit Defeat!'" Maruha's grin grew a few inches.

"Sure, and that's why Naruto is faking a Jutsu behind me, right?" Maruha nodded, then grabbed Kakashi's book, and threw it at the river. "NNNOOOOOOOOOO!" Kakashi yelled as he made a flying leap for his book. SPLASH! Kakashi's hand was all that remained above the water, clutching his 'Icha Icha Paradise.' Kakashi slowly rose from the water, a look of fury in his eyes.

"Plan 'R!' Plan 'R!'" Maruha yelled. Naruto poked his head out from behind a bush. He squinted his eyes and said:

"What?"

"Run!" Kakashi's fingers formed the seal of the tiger, then he thrust his hands into the lower part of the bush.

"Poof," went the Naruto clone as he disappeared into a puff of smoke.

"Right! Don't think you guys can hide!" Kakashi hurled a kunai into another bush. There was a brief yelp, then a puff of smoke. "I can sense your chakura a mile away!" Kakashi jerked his head up, then went running away from the river. Soon, his footsteps faded away. Very slowly, two head rose out of the water, one with blonde hair, one with red hair. After looking around, Maruha and Naruto rose to where the water was at waist height. They turned and grinned at each other.

"Mission accomplished!" Maruha whispered. Naruto nodded triumphantly.

"Very impressive!" a voice hissed. Very slowly, Naruto and Maruha turned around. A man that looked like a bad Michael Jackson impersonator stood with folded arms at the edge of the opposite river bank. "Maybe today will be the day I'll add you to my numbers?" Maruha's eyebrows practically floated off her head.

"Dude, you seriously need to get some volumizing shampoo," she said. The man's eyes narrowed.

"Do you know who I am?" he hissed threateningly. Maruha rubbed her temples for a minute while staring skyward.

"Or-Oro-Wait, wait! I've almost got it! Orobu-Orobunni!" Maruha grinned hopefully. A vein pulsed on the man's forehead.

"Orochimaru!" he said.

"Yeah! I knew I was close!"

"Enough!" Orochimaru yelled. He stretched out, then lunged for Maruha. Maruha whipped out a kunai and stood waiting for the first blow.

"Naruto! Get help!" she yelled. Naruto nodded. And jumped out of the water. Orochimaru changed directions and flew towards Naruto. "NO!" Maruha swung her foot up and brought it down on Orochimaru. Orochimaru crashed into the ground just in-front of Naruto's feet. "Run! NOW!" Maruha bellowed. Naruto scrambled to his feet and ran like H-E-Double Toothpicks. Orochimaru righted himself. He opened his mouth wide and laughed.

"Who, in this village," Orochimaru said, "Do you think can help you?" Maruha smiled slightly.

"No one. But I'm OK with that. I just wanted to keep Naruto safe," Maruha said quietly. Orochimaru stretched out and flew at Maruha. She tried to duck, but got a long cut from Orochimaru on her head. "Three," she muttered. Orochimaru swept in again. "One, two," Maruha thrust her kunai upwards, "Three!" On three, Orochimaru let out a loud hiss. He stood up, then turned to face Maryha. She wiped the blood off that was dripping down from the sliced on her head.

Maruha leaned forward and ran towards Orochimaru. She hurled the kunai she was throwing at him, then quickly pulled out anohter and threw it upwards. Orochimaru jumped up to dodge the first kunai, then twisted himself around to avoid the second kunai. He twisted his head back around to look at Maruha, who had disappeared from where whe waas standing. He whipped his head back around the other way to see Maruha thrust a kunai into his face. Maruha quickly let go of the kunai, and allowed herself to drop back to the ground. She pulled out a couple shiriken, then Orochimaru landed on the ground. His body turned into a mass of goop and oozed out along the ground. Maruha spun around to fling the shiriken. She started to whip her hand out, but a hand caught her wrist. She looked along the length of the arm that held her wrist, then into the face of Orochimaru.

"A worthy attempt," he hissed, then he smiled. He cocked back his hand and sent it forward.

XXxxxXX

Kakashi ran from tree to tree, bush to bush.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Kakashi whipped around. To face Naruto who was running towards him. Kakashi started to make a hand sign, then stopped. Naruto's face was projecting the uncommon emotion of fear. "Kakashi-sensei! Maruha is in trouble!" Naruto sopped infront of Kakashi and panted for a moment. "I left her by the river! There's some guy with purple eyeliner who's attacking her!" Kakashi's eye's widened.

"Go directly to Hokage-sama and tell him!" Kakashi said. Kakashi began running back the way that Naruto had just come. Purple eyeliner, and that chakura I just felt, Kakashi thought. It has to be him! I just hope I'm not too late. Kakashi dodged a tree, jumped over a bush, and pulled out some kunai and shuriken. He stopped running and slid into the clearing next to the river.

XXxxxXX

Orochimaru punched Maruha in the face and sent her flying into a tree. Maruha's head popped up, then the rest of her body followed as she stood up quickly, then climbed up into the tree. Orochimaru stretched and slammed into the tree. Kunai and shuriken went flying out and stuck Orochimaru. He hissed and turned to face Kakashi. Orochimaru righted himself and smiled. He began to lengthen himself. Kakashi started making hand-signs as fast as he could. A loud squirting noise echoed through the woods. Orochimaru frowned and looked up. A huge amount of shampoo hit him in the face. Maruha jumped down from the tree with an empty bottle of Pantene Volumizing Shampoo. She grinned at Kakashi, then turned to the business at hand. Kakashi stood frozen mid hand-sign.

"Right," Maruha said. "If you want to use the shampoo to its maximum usefulness, you have to massage the shampoo into the scalp." Maruha pulled back her sleeves and began vigorously rubbing Orochimaru's shampoocovered head and face.

"AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG!" Orochimaru screeched. "I LIKED my hair looking limp! It adds to my 'evil madman' guise!" Orochimaru jerked his head away from Maruha's hands, performed some hand signs, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kakashi stood looking stunned for a few seconds longer. Maruha looked at him, then placed her hand on her hip and grinned.

"Orochimaru's only weakness: his limp hair." Her eyes formed little 'ns' as her smile grew a little more. Kakashi straightened. And closed his eye.

"You are a master of irratating people, aren't you?" he said. Maruha looked evil.

"We came as fast as we could! Where's Orochimaru?" Several anbu jumped out of trees and bushes and started looking around frantically. Kakashi crossed his arms and opened his eyes.

"He has left, for now," Kakashi said, "But I believe he will be back." The anbu all nodded.

"We will prepare, then. Thank you, Kakashi-san." The anbu started spreading out, looking for signs of Orochimaru. Maruha's face transformed into one of utmost regret. She walked towards Kakashi, then fell to her knees. She clasped her hands infront of her self and said:

"Kakashi-san! Please forgive Naruto and myself! What we did was wrong. I'd like to take full responsibilty for nearly damaging your favorite book, so please, forgive us!" Kakashi looked slightly taken aback, then he smiled. He reached down and ruffled Maruha's hair.

"It's OK," he said. "It's no big deal." Maruha's face instantly melted into relief.

"Thank you, Kakashi-san!" she said.

XXxxxXX

"So, he fell for it?!" Naruto asked Maruha.

"Completely!" Maruha answered. They both started laughing.

XXxxxXX

Yays! Another chapter! So, what did you guys think of the Orochimaru encouter? Good? Bad? WTF?! (hehheh. Hopefully not the last one ^/^) Let me now if you guys have any ideas for any other mischeif Maruha and Naruto could get up to. I'm never below taking suggestions.


	3. Run, Run, Run

Hey, again, all! It's been, what, years since I worked on this? Well, now I'm back! I've decided that I like messing with characters, so most of the characters will be close to the original, but I make no false claims of making them accurate, anymore. Heh, anymore, with all of two chapters... Anyways, enough boring stuff! On to the story.

XXxxxXX

Start Pink Panther theme.

Maruha walked down the town street. It was a pretty nice little town, she reasoned. No one irritating but for her. She hummed softly to herself and threw her hands behind her head in a Naruto-sque stance.

"Now!" a voice cried. Maruha stopped walking, as there was now three children in her path. One wore an overly long cape, the girl of the group had large red pigtails, and the remaining boy wore a long trickle of snot. All wore green goggles on their foreheads. "Ha HA, demon girl with no chakura! Take this!" All the children whipped out small hand mirrors. Maruha's eyebrows floated dangerously near the edge of her head.

"I'm not a vampire, you know. Besides, wouldn't you guys want to see MY reflection?" Maruha bent over and summoned a handkerchief. "Here, kiddo. Blow." The boy with the snot on his nose blew into her handkerchief.

"Hey! No fraternizing with the enemy!" the boy with the overly long cape yelled. He turned to face the bent over Maruha. "You may have tricked Naruto-sensei, but you will never trick us! Disappearing jutsu!" The three children pulled sheets over themselves and inched away. Maruha stroked her chin thoughtfully and rose. She muttered something to herself about a cape, then wandered off. From the rooftops above, Kakashi watched her walk over to a book store, disappear for a few minutes, then reapear. In her hands, she held a copy of a book that- Kakashi's jaw fell slack. It was the latest copy of Icha Icha Paradise, that had yet to even be released. Maruha turned around to face someone coming out of the store. She smiled gaily and began chatting to the man. Kakashi recognized him as Jeriah, the author of his favorite books. Kakashi's eye narrowed.

"What devil's trickery-?" he muttered to himself. Maruha turned and walked away from Jeriah, calling back a good bye over her shoulder. Maruha sighed happily to herself and sped up her walking pace.

"Naruto should be waiting," she thought aloud.

"Oh, is that who you're getting the book for?" a voice asked.

"No, no." Maruha said without thinking, considering the voice to be one of hers. "I'm getting it for-" Maruha stopped suddenly. She turned around to face an almost unbelievably casual Kakashi. Kakashi glaced up from his book long enough to raise his eyebrow at Maruha.

"For?" he urged, eye lowering back to his book. Maruha pursed her lips. Maybe telling him the truth will work? Reverse psychology? Nah, he's a ninja. He would see through that, lying, changing the subject, and... Maruha's eyes lit up.

"Oh, Kakashi," she simpered as she stepped in close to him. "You wouldn't want me to tell you, would you? I might ruin the suspense of whether it's for you or not. Wouldn't you be heart-broken if ot wasn't?" This was clearly the closest Kakashi had ever been to a girl, and the red blush marks showed it. Maruha drug a finger down the side of Kakashi's face. It paused for a second. Before Kakashi knew what had hit him, he had been. Maruha ran off cackling while Kakashi stood for a moment with a pulsing punchmark. After recovering his shattered nerves and ego, he rubbed savagely at the red mark on his face.

"Bloody women," he muttered. He stood a moment longer, then began running after Maruha.

XXxxxXX

Naruto tapped his foot idly while staring at a bush that had refused to move for hours. Finally, a long awaited pattering of feet met his ears. He glanced up to see Maruha running at him with a bag slung over one arm. Just poking out of the corner of the bag was a bright orange book.

"Whoa, you got his book? Coooool!" Naruto did a victory leap.

"Hm? What? Oh, no. I just bought this," Maruha said through light pants. Naruto gave Maruha a funny look.

"Why'd you buy it? I didn't know you were into-"

"I'm not." Maruha cut in smoothly. "I just bought it for- for-" Maruha paused. This may not be the best of times to tell Naruto of her plans. She went instead with a simple distraction. "Hey, look! A squirrel!"

"Where?" Naruto's eyes lit up with sheer boyish glee. He flipped his head back and forth, searching for the proclaimed squirrel.

"There is no squirrel, Naruto."

"Kakashi!"

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yes, yes. In the flesh. She was distracting you, Naruto."

"Hey, yeah! I asked you a question, Maruha! Answer me like a ninja!" Naruto's face grew red from yelling. Maruha looked from a Naruto with fists on his hips to a Kakashi with his arms crossed, his foot holding the little orange book while he read.

"OK, I'll tell you, but after the conviniently placed distraction goes away-"

"Where?" Naruto whipped his head around, and Kakashi dropped his book in his hurry to look behind himself. When they had looked around a great deal, decided there was nothing to see, then checked under random plant life just to be sure, they turned to Maruha, who wasn't there.

XXxxxXX

"Jeez," Maruha mumbled as she walked into her newly aquired bedroom. "So much trouble for a stupid birthday present." Suddenly there came a rapping, someone tapping on her chamber door.

"Sir or madam," said she, as she turned around to see Sasuke sitting outside her window.

"I'm not a bird," she could here Sasuke say through the glass. "And you're not reading old tomes." Maruha opened her window. "Did you remember Kakashi's surprise party tonight?"

"Oh, yeah," Maruha said, gesturing with a hand. "I got him an unavailable copy of his favorite book series." Sasuke nodded.

"See you tonight, then, Disabled." Sasuke leapt away. Maruha flung herself on to her bed.

"I'm not disabled," she muttered.

"Just verically challenged," Kakashi said. Maruha glanced over towards Kakashi.

"Go away," she said as she rolled over.

"Ah, going to sleep? Let me read you a bedtime story." Kakashi cleared his throat and pulled out his book.

XXxxxXX

Life had beem nice and quiet, these past few days, a merchant thought. Inspite of the crazy ninja in the village, he had made a handy little profit, mostly thanks to the ninja and their love of sweeties. The man glanced up to hear a very feminine, but suprisingly anamalistic howl of rage. He quickly gathered up his things and ran away as a gray-haired ninja fell from an upper story apartment window.

"And stay out, Pervert!" Maruha screamed at Kakashi's now prone form. Maruha slammed the window shut, muttering something about indecency in books nowadays.

XXxxxXX

So? What'cha think? Good enough for now? hopes vainly I'll try to get another one up later this week or something. Til then, catch ya later!


	4. Birthday Smash

Hey, I think I might've lived up to my promise! Here's the next installment, without further adeu...

XXxxxXX

Maruha woke up. It wasn't because she particularly felt like waking up, but because a rather loud and annoying alarm clock had just exploded into sound. She grabbed the alarm clock and carefully turned it off. She waited a few moments for herself to stop trembling, then picked up the alarm clock. She lifted it above her head, intending to throw it on to the ground, thought better of it, then threw it into the bathroom. She heard it bounce across the floor a few times, then ricochette off of her shower door.

"Sturdy little-" Maruha let off a string of expletives. It was still nighttime, but that didn't matter for a ninja. Ninjas could get up and go and-

Maruha flopped down on her bed.

-And, and keep going for- Will you get up?

Maruha muttered under her breath, sat up, then left her room. There was a brief sound of rustling in the other room, then a door slammed shut. Silence echoed through the little apartment.

XXxxxXX

Maruha decided to take a shortcut to Kakashi's birthday party. Instead of walking or sneaking around on the streets where no one would see her, she left from rooftop to roof top agilely. Inspite of the fact that anyone that looked up could see her, no one did look up, except for one creepy person, but Maruha quickly dismissed the person as a bystander.

XXxxxXX

Kakashi wandered into his home. He stood for a minute, yawned and stretched, then bent over to take off his shoes. Kakashi paused for a minute as he heard what seemed to be a great indrawing of breath.

"Surprise!" the room at large bellowed. Kakashi poked his head back in through the hole in the previously solid door. He did seem particularly surprised, although not very pleased about the matter.

"Happy Birthday!" several voices chimed at separate intervals.

"And a Happy New Year!" an esspecially excitable person cheered. Kakashi stepped in through his door, sat down, took off his shoes, then went propmtly upstairs to his bed. Half a' dozen ninjas followed him, watched him wander into his bathroom, listened to him brush his teeth, watched him crawl into bed and start snoring. Maruha decided to make the first move. She walked forward, slammed her present to him into his stomach and bellowed,

"Merry Christmas, ye grand Birthday Pollywog." Kakashi poked his head down from the hole in his previously whole ceiling. "Well?" Maruha asked.

"Thank you. Now go away." The other ninjas nodded and filed out of the room. Several of the began talking about the cake they had left downstairs. Maruha continued to stand and watch Kakashi as he jumped down from the hole in his ceiling. Kakashi looked up at Maruha.

"What?" he said testily. "Do you want a goodnight kiss or something?" Maruha could hear the sarcasm drip from his voice, but turned slightly pink anyways.

"I hope you enjoy the book. Good night," she responded quickly. She turned around and walked out of the room.

XXxxxXX

Hey! Short chapter today, but I got another one up, so I think that taht's the important thing. Sorry if the story isn't as silly as it should be. I just went through me first break-up, so I'm having a few emotional problems. But writing make me feel good, so that's what I'm about today. n_n Oh, and even if you don't have a fan fiction account, you can review this story, so please, feel free! Until next time...


	5. Disabled

Hey, again! I'm going to try to be reguar even though school is starting again soon. This chapter, I don't really know what to write, so I'm going to make it up as I go until I get to the point where the charcters are built up enough for the ral story.

XXxxxXX

Two figures stood in the field. One, bright red hair shining in the sun, stood posed in an attitude of relaxed caution. The other,yellow hair spiked up from lack of care, sat crouched and hunkered. The red-haired girl turned to the blonde.

"Naruto," she said, "Do you know who's chakura that is?" Maruha strained her eyes, trying to see into the back of her memory.

"Yeah," Naruto said. "I know this chakura. It's the same as last time. That creepy eye-liner guy's." Maruha nodded.

"Yeah. That's right." She turned to Naruto. "You should get help." Naruto shook his head violently.

"No! The last time I left you, no one else got here in time. You were lucky! I'm staying." Naruto folded his arms and glared defiantly at Maruha, daring her to say otherwise. Maruha bit her lower lip and crouched down next to Naruto.

"You have chakura. Can you send a signal to the others? Kakashi, hokejh and all?" Naruto looked at her strangely.

"Do you mean Hokage?" Maruha looked sheepish. Naruto brought his hands together and formed several hand signs. Two other Narutos appeared in a puff of smoke, stood up and ran off. Maruha nodded. Two puffing sounds could be heard a short ways off.

"Sure you don't want to run?" Maruha asked, almost desperately. Naruto gave her a hard look. It soften when it saw Maruha's sorrowful face.

"No. We'll either beat him, or go down together." Maruha smiled slightly. Out in the middle of nowhere, Maruha and Naruto had been practicing jutsu and attacks on each other. They had gone rather far away from town to avoid destroying anything in the intensity of their attacks. But, a half an hour outside of town made it difficult to get help quickly. Maruha drew out a kunai. She spun around and thrust downward at a slithering sound. She missed Orochimaru totally and had trouble stopping her momentum. Orochimaru slithered over to stand infront of the pair. He rose his arms up in greeting. Several ninja appeared out from the surrounding foliage.

"Hello again, Maruha," Orochimaru said. "Practicing so far from home?" Maruha beamed a smile.

"Yes, we were hoping for a visit from you, Orochimomo!" Maruha said, also spreading her arms out in greeting. Orochimaru frowned, nodded to a ninja. The ninja disappeared. Maruha and Naruto started looking frantically around themselves. The ninja popped out of a bush near Naruto and swung a long kunai upwards. Maruha grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt and drug him back. The kunai avoided Naruto, but left a long tear in his bright orange jacket, revealing his black shirt underneath. Naruto jerked himself out of Maruha's grasp, flashed a few handsigns, then charged at Orochimaru. Maruha slid to the side of Naruto and began running beside him to attack Orochimaru from the side. The ninja behind them flung his long kunai at Maruha. Maruha heard a sighing sound from her back, turned around. She turned in time to see the kunai sink deep into her lower torso. She screamed as pain nearly overwhelmed her senses. Naruto stopped running just before Orochimaru, who drew up his hand. He brought it down across Naruto's neck and shoulders as Naruto began to turned towards Maruha.

Maruha fell to the ground. She clutched at the kunai inside if her and hissed as the pain intensified. To her front, she heard the sound of Naruto crumpling and falling to the ground.

Naruto rolled over slightly to face Maruha. He smiled at her.

"Going down together in mischief," he whispered. He blinked as Maruha's image blurred and faded to grey, then dark brown.

"Naruto!" Maruha shreiked. "No, no! Don't die!" Maruha's body began to tremble and shake. "Can't lose now. Can't lose-control! Can't lose control." Orochimaru tilted his head back and laughed uproariously.

"Lose control? Control of what? Your emotions? Go ahead. Lose those, you'll feel better." Orochimaru grinned. He walked forward to Maruha, crouched down, and tilted her chin up. "You are awefully pale, my dear. So much blood lost. I could stop it, you know, Maruha. Maruha... What an interesting name. Lucky blade, or luck of the blade. Too bad the luck could wear off." Orochimaru looked into Maruha's clouded eyes. Somehow, they seemed cloudier than before. Cloudier and bluer. As he watched, Maruha's pupils and irises were sponged away in the new blue light that began to show from Maruha's eyes. The ninja around Orochimaru started pulling out weapons and stepping towards Maruha. A ninja blinked. When he opened his eyes again, Orochimaru had been sliced in half. Maruha was nowhere to be seen. From the sky above the ninja, Maruha came spinning down. She landed infront of him and cut his torso in half before Orochimaru's halves fell to the ground and disolved into a puddle of goop. As the goop appeared, Maruha cut through each of the ninja. Maruha ran up to a tree and jumped into its branches. A dead ninja fell from this tree and the three surrounding it. Maruha leapt to the ground and landed cat style. Orochimaru urupted from the ground infront of her and left a long cut across her face. Maruha grabbed Orochimaru by the neck, swung him around and hurled him into a tree trunk. She leaned backwards into a backflip to avoid an arm that reached past her face in an grasping motion. She grabbed the hand and cut it off with a shuriken. Orochimaru howled and clutched at his hand. He grimaced and disappeared in a cloud of smoke just before Maruha's fist collided with his face.

XXxxxXX

Kakashi sprinted from tree to tree. That chakura pattern had been unmistakeable. It had been silly of himself, he know saw, to allow Maruha and Naruto to go practice in the woods a mile away. But it had seemed like such a good solution. Certainly, it had helped the merchants maintain there goods.

"But it was stupid, stupid!" Kakashi hissed to himself. "Especially when Orochimaru is known to be near." Kakashi's stomach heaved when he heard a distant scream of agony. Its quality was rather close to that of Maruha's howl of rage the othe night. Kakashi smiled briefly at the memory, but quickly displaced it out of his mind. The anbu were close behind him, so he would just have to hold Orochimaru off for a little while. Suddenly, he came to a break in the trees. He looked down and saw dead ninjas lying everywhere. Kakashi's eyebrows creased.

"Whose chakura-" Kakashi stopped as a ninja with glowing eyes appeared infront of him, leaping in the air, hanging suspened for a brief moment, then landing with each foot on a branch.

"Hey, Kakashi-pollywog! You missed the fun!" The ninjas eyes faded from blue, to a normal green iris, black pupil, and finally to a shock induced misty look.

"Orochimaru's hair looked slightly better today," the ninja said as she slowly pitched forward. Kakashi caught Maruha and jumped to the ground. He strode over to Naruto, laid Maruha down next to him, then took Naruto's pulse. Maruha opened her eyes slightly. She saw what Kakashi wa doing and raised her arm over to touch Naruto. Her eyes took on a faint shade of blue. Naruto' form began to steam slightly. Naruto opened his eyes and looked up at Kakashi.

"What?" Naruto asked. "Wait- Maruha!" Naruto sat up quickly and looked violently around until he spotted Maruha beside him. She smiled. Naruto bent over her and clutched at her hand. "Don't die," he pleaded. Tears began to trickle out from the corners of his eyes. He whiped vainly at them. Maruha smiled again and motioned for Naruto to lean closer.

"I have Kakashi's book!" she whispered with glee. Her eyes closed and the world could have ended then for all Maruha cared.

XXxxxXX

Don't cry, people! Don't- *sniffle* CRY! Waaaaah!

...

Just kidding. Please read and review! Even you anons! Tell me what you think. Should this chapter stay or go? If you don't respond, the default is just going to be 'stay.' Until next time, ciao!


	6. Hospital Melodrama

Hey! Another one in the same week! I'm psyched. But I haven't gotten any reviews past my original two! What's the matter with you people! Anyways, on to the story...

XXxxxXX

Maruha sat up. The room around her was white and clean. Too clean. Maruha thought back to her own messy room. Who ever took care of this place must have nothing better to do with their time than clean. Maruha swung her legs out of bed, stood up, then promptly collapsed. In the other room, two nurses heard a rather loud thud. One of them, the younger of the two rushed to the door. The older one lay a hand on her arm.

"She's a ninja," the older nurse explained.

"Right," the younger nurse said with a nod. "They're not smart enough to stay in bed." The two nurses took a leisurly walk down to Maruha's room, found her sprawled on the floor grumbling about blood loss being such a bore, then promptly swung her into bed.

"Sstay put or you'll die," the older nurse said. As they walked out of the room, the older nurse said, "If that dosn't work, nothing will." Maruha folded her arms. She had yet to decide whether the nurse was being practical or lazy. She grimaced and leaned back. The bandage across her eye itched slightly, but Maruha ignored it. She touched the bandages on her stomach lightly, then winced. She began to touch it again when a voice from the window said,

"Don't touch it if it hurts, for crying out loud." Maruha glanced up to see Sasuke.

"Don't you people ever use doors?" Sasuke shrugged.

"Did Kakashi ever formally thank you for the book?" Maruha went slightly pink.

"Yes. He said-"

"That's not what I meant." Maruha sucked in breath and started to speak. "No. Him chasing you for stealing his sweeties doesn't count." Sasuke paused. "How old are you anyways?" He cocked his head to the side. Maruha shrugged.

"Older than you, Emo-Man."

"You may be older, but I'm wiser, Disabled Cripple."

"If you're so much wiser, how come you can't iron your shirt collar properly, Stiff Neck?"

"I don't need to iron it, Oh Stealer of Books." Both sets of eyes in the room flamed as the two began their heated arguement. Sakura happened to open the door just as Maruha said:

"Well, at least I don't wear eyeliner, Short Pants."

"Yeah? Well-" Sakura screeched.

"Maruha! Be nice to Sasuke-kun! His brother killed his family!" Both the redhead and the bluehead sagged.

"Geez, Sakura. That was harsh," Maruha said. Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. The background behind him erupted into flame as he loomed over Sakura.

"Stop being a sadist, Sakura!" Sakura smiled.

'Yes!' Inner Sakura roared. 'He noticed me! Chaaaa!' Sakura smiled. Naruto jumped in through the window.

"Did I miss the arguement?" he asked. Sasuke nodded. Naruto shrugged. He jumped next to Maruha's bed and whipped out a bunch of flowers.

"Ta-da! Flowers for the cripple," he proclaimed. One of the flowers drooped and fell out of the paper. A huge caterpillar poked its head out of the bunch and growled at Naruto. Naruto's ears rocked back. The caterpillar dove back into the flowers. Naruto's mouth stretched out into a frown. He summoned a vase then plunked the flowers into it.

"You might be able to train the caterpillar," he said with a smile. Maruha smiled back.

"Thanks guys. I feel better all ready." Naruto stuck his thumb up.

"Excellent! Let's go!" He pulled Maruha out of bed on to her feet. She stood teetering for a moment, then fell over.

In the room below, the younger nurse looked up.

"Ninja has friends over," the older nurse said.

Maruha glowered up at Naruto from the floor.

"Ouch," she said. Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"So I guess you're not that much better..." From above her, where she couldn't see, strong arms lifted Maruha off the ground and set het back on the bed. Maruha looked up the lengths of the arms to see Kakashi.

"Well, see ya later!" Naruto said as he, Sakura, and Sasuke waved from the doorway. The closed the door behind themselves, but Maruha could still hear the sounds of giggling as they went down the hallway. Maruha's eyes narrowed. Kakashi leaned over the bed to look directly at Maruha. He leaned in close. Maruha felt her face grow very, very warm. Kakashi stuck out his hand.

"Book," he said. "Now. Or I'll give you something to complain about." Maruha quickly riffled under her covers and pulled out Kakashi's book. She handed it to him with a quiet, 'Sorry,' then lowered her head and looked to the side. Kakashi straightened up, opened the book, then started to climb out the window.

"You know," Maruha began. Kakashi paused. "I always thought that the book would be thoroughly perverted, from the title. But it wasn't that bad. Naruto was named after a strong character." Kakashi nodded, then leapt out the window. Maruha opened her hand to see the little note Kakashi had left in it. She unfolded it carefully and peered inside at the writing. In a carefully thought out hand writing of the well-read, the note read, 'Get Well Fast, OK?'


	7. Romance Section

Seeing as I have no reviews, there's no real need for an author's foreword. Have fun!

XXxxxXX

Maruha walked very slowly into her favorite book store. The nurses' brutality in not letting her leave the hospital became apparent to her now. She hobbled into the store, waved to the owner, then wandered over towards her favorite section: science fiction. She plucked out a few likely looking books, then wandered towards the register. She glanced up as the store bell jingled. She saw a pointy stack of gray hair and- She dove to hide behind the nearest bookshelf. Kakashi glanced over towards where he'd just seen movement. He scanned the shop briefly, then let his eyes rest upon a red ponytail sticking over a book shelf. He sauntered over and said:

"Hello, Maruha." Maruha eeped slightly, but tried to cover it up by replying with a:

"Hey, Kakashi! Loverly day, ain't it?" 'Please don't be mad at me,' she thought to herself. 'I just hoped you would talk to me if I swiped your book.' Kakashi raised his eyebrows.

"I've just been admiring their lovely selection of- of-" Maruha faltered as she saw the rows of pink books.

"Romance novels?" Kakashi supplied. 'Change the subject!' a little voice in her mind hollered. 'Quick!'

"So, I hear its your birthday today?" Maruha wandered over to the register to see an all-knowing grin on the face of the female clerk.

"Yes..." Kakashi said slowly. His one visible eyebrow lifted slightly. Changing subject was an obvious route to take. Perhaps Maruha was trying to tell him something? Kakashi mused over this thought a while. Maruha finished purchasing her books and walked out of the book shop. To her surprise, fear, and joy, Kakashi followed her out of the store.

"Well," Maruha said, fumbling for topics of conversation, "I would ask how old you're turning, but that's a kid thing-"

"Twenty seven," Kakashi replied.

'He's an old man compared to your eighteen and three-quarters, next month!' the little voice howl. "Shut up," Maruha muttered.

"Hmm?" Kakashi said.

"I mean p, uh-" Fortunately, at that moment, a little child decide to start bawling its head off, saving Maruha from answering Kakashi's implied question. Immediately, Maruha whipped out a tissue and started patting the child's face.

"There, there," she said. "What's bothering you, little guy?" The child sniffled and yanked the tissue away. He blew hard into it.

"I've lost my Uncle Iruka!" the child said. Maruha's mind floated back briefly to the harried looking brunette she said while talking to the Hokage.

"It's OK. I know where to find him. Sorry, Kakashi!" she shot over her shoulder. "I'll have to get back to you later." Maruha scooped up the small child and walked away, praising whatever gods might provide a screaming child in answer to a desparate prayer.

As Kakashi watched Maruha walk away, he couldn't help but feel rejected. An old man shimmied up to his side and grumbled next to him.

"Women," the man said.

"And you would know?" Kakashi asked with a disparaging glance to his side. The man's eyebrows lifted. He cleared his throat.

"I mean, uh, penny for an old man, ye royal birthday pollywog?" The man brandished a cup half heartedly, then wandered off to find less intelligent victims.

XXxxXX

In a few minutes, Maruha had reached the Hokage's office. She wandered in through the door. She tried to squeeze past the various ninja, but failed miserably. She stood there a moment, unsure of what to do. The child, picking up his que, let out a long and drawn out howl. All the movement in the room stopped. Almost like out of a horror movie, all heads turned to face Maruha and the little child. She smiled and waved.

Iruka poked his head over the top of the crowd. When he saw his small nephew, he let out what Maruha thought to be an adorable sound of glee.

"Jonaru!" he said. He practically ran over and scooped the child out of Maruha's arms. He hugged the child while tears of joy crept out of his eyes. The female ninja of the room let out a collective sigh. Iruka open his eyes and stared around the room with a brief look of shock.

"Uh, carry on!" he said. Slowly, the room returned to its busy activity. Iruka turned to Maruha. "Thank you so much!" he said. "I lost him this morning, but didn't have any idea of where to begin looking for him." Maruha nodded and said:

"No problem. Anyways, catch ya later, Iruka!" Iruka and Jonaru waved briefly to Maruha as she exited the room. Iruka looked at Jonaru.

"Now, as for you, young man..."

XXxxxXX

Maruha sat on a clump of rocks, staring off into the surrounding forest. It was a truly beautiful little village. Everyone was awefully nice. But-

There was always a 'but,' wasn't there? The last three villages had seemed welcoming enough at first. All visits had ended in her having her ninja title revoked. No one seemed to like the luck of the blade, whether it was lucky for their town or not.

"Blades eventually cut someone they don't mean to," Maruha muttered to herself.

"Not all of them." Kakashi stepped up next to Maruha, then sat down. "I know it always seems like it, though. Especially when you lose friend after friend to a 'blade.'" Kakashi pulled out his little orange book. Maruha drooped her head on to her knees.

"Naruto was lucky. If he had been dead..." he voice trailed off.

"But he wasn't. Lucky, right? And so were you. You could have run into Orochimaru and not have had chakura." A distant breeze rattles tree branches. Slowly, the breeze worked its way over to where Kakashi and Maruha were sitting. Maruha shivered.

"The other ninja weren't so lucky, were they? They were people, too."

"They had decided to join a dangerous ninja in killing two kids. Doesn't sound much like a person to me." Kakshi flipped a page in his book. Maruha sighed. "You were defending yourself and a friend. Is that such a bad thing?" Kakashi asked, answering the question hidden in the sigh. Maruha didn't answer. Kakashi stood up. He glanced down past his book briefly to Maruha. He reached down and ruffled her hair. "Chill out a little," he said.

Kakashi turned and walked away. Maruha listened as the crunching died away. She touched the scar on her face. It was odd, she thought, how she had a scar on the same side of her face as he did.

XXxxxXX

End of another chapter. Maybe I shouldn't write these around midnight. They get kinda depressing. But, hey! More character developement, right? Obviously, Maruha has some learning to do. As do I. Like, '11pm at night is the time to be makin' Zs.' Hehehe. Until next chapter, ya'all!


	8. Rank A Expletive

Well, I've been awfully busy lately, what with college and all. This may be some of the only free time I get for a while. And just think, I'm spending it writing! Anyways, on to the silliness...

XXxxxXX

Maruha stood next to the book store. She tapped her chin lightly, thinking. Kakashi usually came by here every morning. It would be a good opportunity to ask him about his recent missions. Esspecially since she hoped to go on one soon.

Maruha was not disappointed. Kakashi cam around the bend with his practically-trademark book in hand. He was clearly reading a very interesting part: he jumped when Maruha greeted him.

"Hello, Kakashi!"

"Meh." Maruha raised her eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" Kakashi lowered his book from its position directly in front of his eyes.

"What? Can't you see I'm busy?" Kakashi brought the book back up to nose level and walked past Maruha. Maruha scowled after him as he walked in to the book store. She opened the door for herself and followed him in.

"So, I was wondering if you could tell me about the typical mission?" Maruha said when she caught up with Kakashi.

"They're typically boring. Raking the yard, finding a lost cat, you know."

"I meant A-rank missions. Like Jounin level-" Maruha trailed off in to silence in the force of Kakashi's look.

"Are you prepared to die? Just to make a little extra money? Are you prepared to put your own life at stake for a stranger?" "It's just a question."

"Questions usually lead to some sort of action." Kakashi glared at her over the top of his book. He closed it and stuck it in his pocket. Maruha was silent. "Well? It's no cakewalk, Maruha. People die." Maruha glared defiantly back at Kakashi.

"I know I won't die. I won't let anybody die," she said.

"Famous last words." Kakashi picked up an interesting looking book and strode over to the counter with it. Maruha followed him over to the counter.

"You didn't answer my question," she said. Kakashi looked at her over his mask, almost sadly, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Maruha raised her eyebrows. She lowered them in to a dark scowl. She exited the store mumbling a string of expletives related to Kakashi.

XXxxxXX

"Hokage-sama!" Several anbu crouched infront of Old Man Hokage. Hokage nodded. "There has been news that of one of Orochimaru's men is coming tonight! He plans to settle a score with Disabled. Apparently she killed his brother." Hokage nodded.

"Serious indeed. We shall have to baracade the city tonight, then. Enforce a curfew on the citizens. For those that ask, explain the situation briefly and unassumingly." The anbu nodded and faded into the background.

XXxxxXX

"Gosh, do you look angry. What's up?" Naruto asked Maruha. Maruha spun towards Naruto.

"I'm not angry," she growled.

"Uh, right," Naruto said. "So, did Kakashi tell you yet?"

"Oh, he told me, all right. All I asked was a simple question. And what do I get? A whole lot of-" Maruha decended into a string of muttering and minor expletives. Naruto nodded apprehensivly in a somewhat undstanding way.

"That's not what I meant, though-"

"I'll show him," Maruha said, oblivious to Naruto's words. "I'll go get an A-rank mission right now. I'll come back alive and well." Maruha stumped off in the general direction of the Hokage's office. Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"Girls," he muttered.

"Naruto, we have a problem." Naruto turned around to face Sasuke. "One of Orochimaru's ninja is coming to the village tonight. And they don't have good intentions towards Miss Disabled, there." Naruto looked astonished.

"Does she know?" Sasuke shook his head.

XXxxxXX

Maruha knocked on the Hokage's door. At the sound of affirmation, Maruha opened the door and began spouting,

"Hokage-sama! What's the big idea? I went to get an A-rank mission, and all I get is a 'no thank you.' Or a 'We don't have any.' I finally shook some one down to give me a real answer, and they told me I couldn't take on a mission of that level, by your orders!" Maruha stopped to inhale for breath. Hokage took advantage of the opportunity presented and began speaking,

"I banned you from those levels of missions on a request from a ninja whose opinion I happen to trust."

"Who? Kakashi?" Hokage nodded his head. Maruha swore. She walked over to Hokage's window, preparing to climb out.

"He cares for you, you know," Old Man Hokage said. "You should learn to appreciate that." Maruha hrumphed and leapt out the window.

XXxxxXX

Maruha sat on her bed. She had been halfway through changing her pajamas, but had gotten lost in thought along the way. She now sat in a pajama shirt and undrwear. What was with Kakashi, anyways? Who was he to stop her? Did he consider her an inferior ninja because of her 'disability?' It wasn't as if she hadn't handled things when Orochimaru was trying to kill Naruto and herself. Her eyes teared at the thought. Naruto had almsot been gone. She was nearly gone after she save him.

She glanced up at a tapping sound on her window. She saw a dark sillouette with spiky hair.

"Go away, Kakashi," she said. No answer. "Go away!" she yelled. She flung open the window and punched outwards. Her eyes grew large. That face wasn't Kakashi's. The dark form grabbed her arm and flung her out of her bed room. She went flying into the evening air. Maruha stretched her arms and legs out, managed to catch a ledge. While dangling from it, the dark ninja appeared above her. He whisked a knife out of no where and swept it down just as Maruha let go of the ledge. She dropped down into an alley, stumbled, fell, then scrabled towards the opening. The ninja landed lightly in front of her. Maruha picked up a chunk of wood at her feet and threw it at the ninja. He caught it easily, but had to doodge the second piece that came at him. As he straightened from his dodge, he found a foot planted into his stomach. He fell backwards into a pile of loose trash.

Maruha scrambled up a fence, then on to the roof top she had fallen out of. She yelled at the top of her voice when a kunai made its way into her leg. She tugged at it and pulled it out. The ninja now stood over her. Her grabbed her hair and wrenched her head back.

"This is for my brother," he hissed. He started to drag a knfe across Maruha's neck, but was stopped by a knee to his wrist. The knife went flying, taking a small piece of Maruha along with it. She snarled and grabbed the ninja. She swung him into the ground with a judo throw. She grabbed his hair and collar and started beating his head against the roof.

"What- are- you- here- for?" she said, punctuating each word with his head banging on the roof. He grabbed her wrists and flung her to his side. He pulled another knife out of his shirt and lifted it to stab Maruha's limp form. A foot connected with the side of his head, knocking him over. The ninja said,

"I swear, I will kill you for killing my brother," then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Maruha sat up. Naruto stood nearby, panting. Kakashi, not far away, leapt from roof top to roof top until he was in voice range. Maruha stood up.

"I could have handled him," Maruha said, folding her arms. Kakashi grinned through his mask.

"In your underwear?" Maruha's eyes grew big. She glanced down. Her face grew red. She began to struggle with her shirt to hold it over her underwear. Naruto turned slightly pink.

"You're actually pretty hot in your panties, Maruha," he said as he rubbed his head nervously. Kakashi laughed. Maruha shot both of them a scowl and ran across the roof back to her window.

XXxxxXX

Yays! Finished another chapter! Wasn't sure if I could or not. Please review! It makes it easier to find time to write.


	9. Every Breath You Take, I'll Be Watching

Well, I'm busy, but I'm trying! If I can get in the habit of working my writing in with my homework, hopefully I'll be able to finish forming my publishable story idea. Happy happy. Enjoy this story!

XXxxxXX

A ninja sat quietly on the top of a building, watching as the sun rose. He watched a nearby window with half an eye. The reds that slowly progressed into oranges were more interesting at the moment. He pulled out a kunai and lightly tested its tip. He twiddled the knife in his hands, playing with it as thoughts dashed through his mind, his thought keeping steady time with the motion of the kunai. She could so easily be killed right now, he thought. Her red would add only to the beauty of the morning. But something kept him from leaping through the window. She was a cute kid. Mostly harmless, by his current estimation. But still, the death of his brother sat over her head, like an impenatrable layer of steel, preventing him from seeing her motives clearly. She killed his brother so easily, if Orochimaru told truth, but hadn't killed him those few nights ago. It just didn't seem quite right.

The ninja leapt off of the roof top to the ledge under the girl's room. He could at least have a little fun. He tapped on the window, then sprung away, laughing to himself.

XXxxxXX

Maruha sat up in her bed. She looked to her window, then at the clock and laid back down. A few hours later, she flew out of bed and dressed hurriedly. She had over-slept by several hours.

"Can't be helped," she muttered. "Random ninja attacks don't help with a good night's sleep. I'll just have to train later into the day." She finished getting ready in a few minutes, then rushed out the door to the training grounds.

Maruha found several grumpy Ninjas waiting for her. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all looked quite peeved. Sasuke turned towards Maruha.

"Ah, here she is. Not only is she disabled, but she's lazy." Maruha nodded.

"At least my hair is managable," she retorted. Sasuke let the smallest trace of a smile touch on his lips. Maruha smiled briefly back, then turned towards Naruto and Sakura.

"So I can see why Sasuke would be here, but why are you two here?" Naruto folded his arms and glared at Maruha.

"I tried to tell you yesterday, but you were to angry to listen," Naruto said. Maruha motioned for him to continue. "Kakashi's on a mission, so he was going to ask you to fill in his role for us." Maruha's eyebrows drifted towards the top of her head. She pointed at herself.

"Me? But, I'm just-" She stopped. "I mean, yeah. I'll train you all." Maruha reached upwards then stretched down. "If you're wise," she said, "You'll start stretching." Sakura sat down and stared lazily off into the distance. She stretched legs out and reached grab her toes. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, then started an energetic competition. They stretched for several minutes, then all rose.

"OK. Everyone. You're all on a team. Your goal is to touch me, but not to have me catch you." Sakura put her hands on her hips.

"That's hardly fair, Maruha-sensei! You're better than us! You'll beat us, easy."

"Pfft, Sakura. Shut up and do something," Sasuke said. He crouched, then lunged at Maruha. She side stepped him. She reached out and grabbed his wrist. He twisted out of her grasp. Naruto kicked at Maruha's feet. She jumped up over his feet. She landed lightly, then backflipped out from between them. Sakura appeared behind her. Maruha dodged the hand that slid past her. Sasuke punched at Maruha at the same instant that Naruto punched at her from the other side. She crouched down, then leapt out from amoungst them. This continued for several hours, as Maruha led the three all over the training grounds, then led them through the city for the heck of it.

XXxxxXX

The ninja watched Maruha and her younger pupils with curiosity. She was a good ninja, he had to admit, all but for her 'disability' as the unwise called it.

"Gives her an edge on stealth," he muttered to himself. "I will remember that." She looked somewhat tense, inspite of her outward joviality. "She must know I'm watching her," he reasoned. "Her senses must be sharp, if she killed my brother." His brow crinkled. "Killed my brother." His fists clenched and unclenched. "Some how, this delicate flower killed my brother." The ninja fiddled idly with his knife pouch. He hummed under his breath, planning.

XXxxxXX

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke continued to try and catch Maruha, but she always seemed just barely beyond their fingertips Sasuke motioned to the other two. They nodded and attacked Maruha at the same instant. Maruha ducked under their blows. She glanced up briefly to see Sasuke reaching out his hand. By some miracle that Maruha, let alone Sasuke, could never hope to understand, Maruha twisted away from Sasuke's grasp.

"Whoa. Good going, Sasuke-kun. nearly got me. Whoop." Maruha leapt and sprung away from Naruto. "You're more likely to get you opponent off guard with combined attacks like that," she said through breaths and dodges. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He followed Maruha movements with his eyes, recording her movements.

"She's dodging in a regular pattern," he thought. "Up, down, out, down." Sasuke watched her for a moment longer to confirm his thoughts. He then followed her lead. He kicked low: Maruha jumped up. He swept his foot around and up: she crouched down, then jumped away. She turned to see Sasuke standing where she had landed. He made a high kick, then twisted down to touch Maruha in her downward movement. She tried to lean away, but wsn't quite fast enough: Sasuke caught a strand of her hair. Maruha fell on to her back.

"All right! Good job, Sasuke!" Naruto and Sakura walked up. They leaned down over Maruha to peer at her. "He touched my hair. So, who's up for lunch?" Naruto punched his fist into the air.

"Me!" he bellowed.

Not long after, they all sat at Naruto's favorite Ramen joint. Maruha watched the three eat ravenously. Her mouth widened into a pleased smile at the fevor with which Naruto ate his. Naruto glanced over his chopsticks at her.

"What?" he asked through a mouthful of ramen.

"Oh, nothing," Maruha said as she turned back to her bowl. She sucked on it for a while. "What kind of mission did Kakashi go on?" she asked the place in general. Naruto tensed slightly.

"Uh, nothing much. Just something, you know, standard," Naruto said, choosing his words carefully.

"He goes on missions like this all the time," Sasuke said, picking up on Naruto's thought stream. Sakura, completely oblivious to Naruto's reaction to Maruha's question, answered:

"He went on an A-rank mission. Tracking Orochimaru's rogue henchman, or something." Sasuke placed a hand over his face. Maruha set her chopsticks on her bowl's edge.

"He what?" Maruha said. Her voice contained a poorly hidden rage.

"Oh, an A-rank mission. You know, the dangerous kind," Sakura said. Naruto picked up his bowl and finished his ramen quickly.

"Ah. That's all."

"He's been on a lot, Maruha," Naruto said quietly, trying to soothe Maruha's temper.

"He's on an A-rank mission. After he told me how dangerous they were."

"Kakashi is well prepared for missions like this," Sasuke said. Maruha seemed not to hear.

"Hypocritical, self-centered man." Maruha stood up. She pulled some money out of her wallet and handed it to the chef behind the counter. "Here. And if there's any extra, put it towards Naruto's tab."

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked, clearly suprised.

"To think things over, at the least," Maruha said. She smiled. "Good job today, guys. Keep up the good work, and I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she left. Naruto and Sasuke turned to glare at Sakura. She looked baffled.

"What? She asked."

"She's been worked up over this for about a day now," Naruto said. "You should have caught that."

XXxxxXX

Maruha sat quietly observing the swaying trees in the wind. How could Kakashi? After how he hectored her. She would show him up. Somehow. She still had to figure that part.

"I'll show him I'm at least as capable as he is," she muttered.

"How will you," a voice laughed, "when you are dead?" Maruha stiffened. She turned around to face the ninja from the previous evening.

"Why haven't you killed me?" she asked.

"I wanted to fight you honorably, so that my brother's death would be honored." The ninja tossed a kunai from hand to hand in a playful manner. Maruha stood up slowly while drawing a kunai.

"OK," she said. "When ever you are ready, then." The two ninja stood watching each other for a while. Then, both threw kunai at each other. Maruha made a rolling dive to the side. The other ninja jumped up and landed in a tree with a small burst of chakura. He flung out a collection of shuriken where Maruha stood. She stood rapidly and fell into a backflip. She landed and then leapt forward to climb the tree. The ninja fell out of the tree near her. He landed on his hands and vaulted into her. She crumpled into the blow, distributing the force, then kicked him as she gained her balance. Maruha sat down and folded her arms. The ninja crouched and stared intently at her.

"Well?" Maruha asked. "Are you done yet?" The ninja shook his head.

"Awfully cocky aren't you?" A smile touched on his lips. Maruha's brow furrowed. She plucked a kunai out of the ground and started tossing it lightly in her hand.

"You know, your brother came to kill me and a friend when we were at our most vulnerable. He was not honorable." The ninja stopped smiling.

"My brother was an honorable man!" he yelled. He leapt forward and knocked Maruha on to her back. He punched downward at her, aiming at her face, but she caught his hand.

"He came with a-" Maruha paused as she caught the ninja's other fist, "-a group of well trained, dangerous ninja to kill a twelve-year-old boy and a girl with no chakura." The ninja glared down at her. He tugged uselessly at his captured fists. His eyes narrowed, then suddenly widened as an idea came to him. He smiled softly and leaned forward towards Maruha, still lying on the ground holding his fists, then kissed her. Maruha squaked and loosened her grip. The ninja pulled his fists away then punched Maruha. Her head rocked to the side. As it came back she kicked up and knocked the ninja off of herself.

Maruha stood up, her face bright red. The ninja laughed at her look.

"I found your weak spot!" he cackled. Maruha grimaced and wiped at her face. "What'sa matter? Never had a boyfriend before?"

All good ninja's soon find that talking is a dangerous course of action. Not only does it give your position away, it leaves you open to attack. The ninja soon discovered this after finding himself ten feet from where he remembered himself with a foot on his chest and a kunai to his neck. He lay there, wide-eyed for a second, then twisted his neck up to look at Maruha. She pushed the kunai into his neck, causing a small bead of blood to roll down his neck. Her arm remained tense while several emotions flashed across her face. In a short and insubstantial moment, she had a brief conversation with herself, and this is how it went:

"I should kill him now. Get it over with."

"But, I've all ready killed so many people. So many..."

"Kakashi told you about that, though, don't you remember?

"Pah. Kakashi. I'll show him. I'll bring this man in to the village as a friend."

Maruha's face cleared. She pulled the kunai off of thee ninja's neck. She then stood and reached out a hand down to him.

"I'm Maruha. Will you continue to train with me?" The ninja scowled at her. Behind his eyes, calculations were forming: what were the benefits of being friends with this girl? Several... The ninja stretched his hand out to the girl, grasped her hand, then stood.

"Yamanosanaka. I will kill you at some point. Call it training if you will." The ninja gave a jaunty wave, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Several anbu leapt out of the bushes.

"Maruha-san. Do you know where the ninja went?" Maruha shook her head. "Are you injured, Maruha-san?" Maruha rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Just my pride. That's all." The anbu nodded, then they all leapt off into the trees.

XXxxxXX

Yays. Another chapter. Not my best, I'll wager, but good enough, yes? Oh, and for those of you non-japanese speakers, Yama means mountain, no is a possesive, like my, hers, dog's, and so on, and finally, sanaka means fish. I'll let you put the pieces together. n_n If you feel so inclined, please review. I like reviews, but with all the subscriptions I've been getting, I guess they speak for themselves. Until next chapter!


	10. A Change of Pace

Hello, again! I think that it's time for a change of pace with my story here. I would tell you what it is, but that would be giving it away, so you'll just have to wait and see. Like me! Wait a sec...

XXxxxXX

Kakashi leapt through Hokage's window. (A\N: Leapt is such a good ninja word.) He looked to Old Man Hokage's chair and, upon seeing no one there, walked out into the lobby. The hokage was standing outside, talking with a small group of anbu ninja. Kakashi strolled forward with his hands thrust deep into his pockets. The ninja stopped talking and turned to Kakashi. Hokage turned around slowly.

"The lead was a dead end, Lord Hokage," Kakashi said. "The were no signs of him anywhere." Old Man Hokage nodded. One of the anbu spoke up:

"The lead you were following may have been planted intentionally. The target was still in the village." Kakashi pulled his hands out of his pockets and walked forward quickly. "The ninja made another attempt on Disabled's life, but mercifully failed." Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"She's a better fighter than you give her credit for, Gaga-shi." Kakashi looked at Hokage.

"I'm not a pop-singer, Lord Hokage," he said. He redirected his attention to the anbu. "Was she injured?"

"Not noticably. All she would confess to was her pride." Kakashi nodded.

"She is a prideful little bugger," Kakashi thought to himself. Out loud he said, "That is fortunate. Do you want me to attempt to find him again?" Old Man Hokage nodded.

"We need your skill, Kakashi." Hokage then picked up a newspaper and rolled it into a tube. He lifted his arm up, then smacked Kakashi with the newspaper. "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU NINJA AND WINDOWS, ANYWAY?" he wheezed. Kakashi stood looking polaxed while the anbu suddenly found somewhere else to be.

XXxxxXX

Sakura drummed her fingers on the counter top. Maruha had planned a later training session for her and her team today, leaving Sakura with almost nothing to do for the day. Almost nothing. She stared out the window. Why had Maruha gotten so angry? Kakashi was older and more experienced than Maruha.

"I know I would have taken Kakashi's warnings to heart," Sakura muttered to herself. She drummed her fingers on the counter again. Almost nothing to do. Her eyes strayed over to a pile of books on chakura control, each of which she'd read three times over, at least. She stretched.

"Maybe I'll visit Iruka-sensei. Ask him about chakura techniques." She nodded to herself. That was the thing to do. She picked up her kunai pouch and walked to see Iruka.

XXxxxXX

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan," Iruja said. "I've got so much paper work to do. I don't have any free time." Sakura nodded sullenly.

"That's OK, Iruka-sensei. I'll just find something else to do." She smiled and waved goodbye to Iruka. He smiled and waved back. Perhaps Ino-chan would be around? Sakura hadn't talked to her for over a month now. Sakura began humming to her self as she walked faster. Ino would be just the person to talk to. What were friends for, after all?

Shortly after, Sakura knocked on Ino-chan's door. Ino's mother answered.

"Oh, hello Sakura!" the woman said. "How are you?"

"Oh, fine. Thank you," Sakura replied. "I wonder, is Ino-chan home?" Ino's mother shook her head sorrowfully.

"I'm afraid not. She left on a mission with her team earlier today. I'm sorry, Sakura." Sakura nodded and replied that that was OK, she'd find something else to do. Ino's mother bid her goodbye, and Sakura waved back.

Sakura sighed. She figured she'd just sit and wait at the training grounds until Maruha-sensei showed up. She walked into the training grounds then sat on a rock. She plopped her head down on her chin and stared at nothing in particular. She glanced up briefly as something exploded from a distant bush. Sasuke landed and held a kunai up in defense against an imaginary opponent.

"Sasuke certainly won't want to talk to me," she thought with a sigh.

Sasuke froze: his stalker alert senses were tingling. He turned his head around to glance at a sullen and dejected Sakura. She didn't seem to see him until she gave him a half-hearted wave. Sasuke's eyebrow rose off of his face. Sakura wasn't going fangirl all over him.

"What a pleasant change," he thought. He leapt, hopped, skipped, then jumped to land infront of Sakura.

"You look more emo than me, right now," he said with a faint trace of facetiousness. Sakura shrugged.

"No one ever has time for me. I just get in everyone's way. I'm just useless."

"Bing bing bing! Correct!" Sasuke thought, but only said, "Well, you have good chakura control..." Sakura looked up with sparkles in her eyes.

"Really, Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke looked slightly worried for a second, decided to blow it off, then sat next to Sakura.

"Yeah. You just need to apply your skills. Like, using your chakura to, I don't know, make yourself really strong? You just have to practice." Sakura was positively glowing now. She balled her hands into fist and held them close to her chest.

"I could be really strong? Yeah!" She punched a fist into the air. "Yes! I'll start learning how to do that!" She turned to Sasuke. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun!" She stood up and clasped her hands in to a concentration position. Her eyes closed and a faint chakura glow eminated around her.

XXxxxXX

Naruto rolled out of bed and stared at his clock in disbelief for a minute. Surely he couldn't have slept that long. He shrugged his shoulders and stood up. He stretched up, then down, following this by several other stretches. He ate his breakfast, got dressed, then headed out to the training grounds. As fate would have it, Sasuke and Sakura had both beat him there. Sakura stood concentrating next to a tree, for a reason Naruto was unsure of, while Sasuke fought an imaginary foe. Naruto stood watching them for a minute until Sakura punched the tree. It wasn't really that much of a punch, but the tree seemed to think otherwise, as a sizeable dent was now where Sakura's fist rested. Naruto stared at her for a minute, then shrugged. At least she was learning to be useful.

"Sasuke!" Naruto bellowed. Sasuke turned towards him.

"About time you showed up, Lily of the Field." Naruto scrunched his face. He walked casually towards Sasuke, then stood looking at him for a while. Sasuke looked back. Sakura, who would have normally been watching the two with baited breath, instead punched the tree again, making it sway dangerously. Naruto and Sasuke began to attack each other. They fought and out-witted each other for quite some time. At the appointed time, Maruha showed up. She watched the three appraisingly, then clapped her hands.

"OK, guys! Since you're all ready warmed up, let's get started!"

XXxxxXX

Kakashi sat in a tree, staring morosly off into the distance. He would never openly admit it, but he missed training his three students. It had only been a while, but still... But there was something else that he missed. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but whenever he thought of being back in his apartment, a bout of homesickness came on.

"Except I don' get homesick," Kakashi muttered to himself. "Haven't been for years now. But I miss something. Something I haven't seen for a while." Kakashi shrugged. He'd deal with that feeling later. For now, his thoughts were needed else where.

The ninja who targeted Maruha would be around here somewhere, presuming he couldn't change his chakura's feel. Kakashi strained his eyes. There. The ninja was walking casually down the middle of the lane. As if he didn't have a care in the world. Soon, he would never have a care in the world. Kakashi pulled out a set of kunai and shuriken.

"No one messes with Maruha," Kakashi thought. He paused, slightly surprised by the thought. He discarded it quickly. The ninja was now in range of a distance attack, but Kakashi wanted to make absolutely sure he died. A few steps closer and-

Kakashi froze. That was only a clone Jutsu. The ninja's chakura was currently behind him as well as infront of him. Kakashi flung a shuriken down at the clone ninja and flipped off of the tree branch, spraying knifes and shuriken on to where he had been and where the ninja now sat. The ninja leapt away just in time to avoid the worst of the weapons, but was scratched by those in the perifere. The ninja's eyes narrowed in pain. Kakashi smiled to himself. This would end soon.

XXxxxXX

Kakashi woke to find himself in a very clean, white room. Kakashi pondered his situation for a minute, then remembered. The ninja hadn't been easy to fight, rather the opposite, in fact. But he'd been sure to give the ninja sometthing to remember him by. He'd fallen unconcious at the same time as the ninja. Kakashi silently cursed himself. Hopefully the anbu had gotten him while he hmself had lain unconcious next to the man.

A door opened, admiting not the expected nurses, but a petite girl with bright red hair that stood in morbid contrast with the white walls.

"Hello, Maruha," Kakashi said.

"How are you, Kakashi-san?" Maruha asked. Kakashi glanced at her face. Her eyes were slightly pink with dark lines underneath. With no answer forthcoming, Maruha continued talking:

"We've been worried, you know, since you've been out a couple days." Maruha walked over to Kakashi. "I'm glad, though, that you didn't kill Yamanosanaka." Kakashi looked at her.

"Who?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't answer what he feared she would.

"Yamano-" Maruha paused. "The ninja who's been targetting me." Kakashi sat up and stared at her. Maruha continued talking in a rushed manner. "I mean, he's been training with me recently and hasn't, you know, been trying to kill me. Just last night, in fact, he took me to a-"

"You realise he could kill you in an instant? That he's only playing nice with you to make it easier for him to kill you?" Maruha's face hardened.

"Should've known you wouldn't understand," Maruha mumbled. She held up a bunch of flowers with a card attached. "Here," she said as she threw them at him. "Get healthy faster." She turned away and walked out of the room. Kakashi watched her walk away, feeling a pang in his chest. He picked up the flowers and flipped open the card. There were several notes inside, ranging from Naruto to Iruka. Kakashi sighed. He dropped the flowers on to the table next to himself and rubbed savagely at his chest.

XXxxxXX

Barely any Maruha, I think you'll have noticed. I wanted to develope the other characters a bit more so that I'll have more to work with when I need them. Take care, and until next time!


	11. In Which the Nurse Gets Her Way

Well, hello... I know it's been a long time, but I got majorly busy with college, then got very sick for about a year. I know what you all are thinking, though: NO EXCUSES! GIMME STORY, NOW! Hehheh. You guys are ruthless...

XXxxxXX

Maruha leaned casually against a tree, trying not to look as nervous as she felt. She twiddled idely with a shuriken. She glanced around at the tree branches.

"Looking for someone?" Maruha whipped around, shuriken at the ready. She now saw that it was Yamanosanaka. She straigtened out of her tensed posed.

"Oh!" Maruha said. "Yeah. I guess I got a lite impatient waiting here..." She chuckled lightly. Yamanosanaka slid an arm over her shoulder.

"Well," he said, "I'm sorry I kept my princess waiting." Maruha turned red.

"M-me?" she stuttered. The ninja laughed. Maruha glanced down to the kunai that was now at her neck. "Aw, nuts."

"Got ya." Maruha glared at him. "Never let your guard down, babe, or-" Maruha punched him in the face. The male ninja staggered backwards. Maruha grinned.

"You were saying?" Yamanosanaka rubbed his nose. He then lowered his hand and bent his knees into a fighting stance. His hand made the standard 'Bring It' motion. Maruha dug her hands into her weapons' pouches, then flung out several shuriken.

Over in the eastern part of the sky, the Sun rose, throwing red over the surrounding country. The day had begun.

XXxxxXX

Kakashi leaned heavily on his crutch and glared at the young nurse in front of him.

"I have every right to leave, you know," he began.

"Only if you're a masochist," the nurse chirped. "Back to bed with you. Go on!" The nurse gently, but forcibly, guided him back to his room. "You ninja! You're almost as bad as doctors. 'I'm fine, Missy! Now, where are my clip boards?' Honestly!" With a last gentle shove, Kakashi was back in bed, glaring at the young nurse's retreating back.

"Hope Maruha isn't doing anything stupid," he muttered to himself.

XXxxxXX

Sakura sat up and stretched. She quickly clambered out of bed and jumped into her clothing, idlely rubbing at her sore shoulders.

"Right! Time to take on the new day! Chaaa!" she yelled.

"Sakura, be quiet! Your father is sleeping!" Her mom called from downstairs. Sakura slouched slightly and looked sheepish.

"Whoops," she muttered. She quietly slipped downstairs, ate her breakfast, and scooted out the door just as her father stumbled into the kitchen, growling about noisy children and wives.

Sakura started walking to the training area that Maruha had asked them all to meet at. She let herself fall into her thoughts. She realised she hadn't been thinking much about Sasuke, lately. With her discovery of her chakura enhanced strength, she had focused on nothing else but training that. She had been a lot more useful in the last few training sessions, too. Maruha had actually commented on it.

Sakura tripped over somebody. She stood up in a rage.

"Geez, you idiot, watch where you're-" she looked down at a little girl with large red pigtails. The little girl cowered infront of Sakura, sniffling slightly. "Oh, gosh. I'm sorry..." Sakura crouched down to the girl's eye level. "Are you okay?" The girl nodded.

"Moegiiii! Where are you?" A boy in a long green cape skidded around a corner, closely followed by a boy with a permanent drip of snot hanging off of the end of his nose. "Moegi! Are you okay?" The two boys crouched on either side of Moegi and poked her hesitantly. Moegi sniffled and said a quiet,

"I'm fine, Konahamaru." Moegi stood up, then bowed politely to Sakura. "I'm sorry I got in your way." Sakura looked sheepish.

"Oh, no, it's really my-"

"All right!" Konahamaru bellowed. "Let us free Naruto from the Demon with No Chakura!" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know where to look for Maruha?" Konahamaru threw a sidelong glance at Sakura and folded his arms.

"Of course we do. We keep constant tabs on him, don't we, Udon?" The boy with a runny nose rubbed his sleeve against his face.

"I thought that was your job, Konahamaru," Udon said. Konahamaru glared at him.

"Enough! We will use are advanced ninja tracking techniques to find her! Disappear Jutsu!" All children threw camophlage painted sheets over their heads. It was a good thing their mothers didn't know about that jutsu...

"Well," Sakura said, pretending that she couldn't see them, "I guess that they'll never know that I'm going to go to where the Demon with No Chakura will be." The three sheets lowered just enough to reveal three sets of curious eyes. "I'll just start walking that way, I guess." Sakura began walking again. She pretended that she couldn't see the three children who were following her so steathily. At one point, Udon tripped. He was immediatey and severely berated by Konahamaru for his lack of stealthiness and a long lecture began, following the style of boring History teachers the world over.

Several History teachers sneezed.

Sakura coughed politely. Konahamaru and Udon immediately dove back under their sheets, revealing nothing but two sets of glowing eyes. Sakura continued walking, eading the young trio to the training grounds.

Sakura glanced around. There was no one else there, yet.

"I guess we're early, guys. Sorry about that." Three sets of eyes glared at Sakura from under their mothers' nice bedsheets. Sakura rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, I'm at least going to get warmed up. You guys can probably hang around until she shows up." And so Sakura began punching (and exploding) trees, bushes, and narrowly avoided a squirrel, and the three junior ninja sat down to a game of Go-Fish.

XXxxxXX

Once agian, I'm terribly sorry for the delay in writing this. But, it's done now, and I hope to have time to continue to write it. I won't try to bludgeon you into writing a review for me, but, if you see something in my writing that is seriously lacking, I would be much obliged if you could point it out to me. I want to practice my writing while I kick around ideas in my head for a real story.

Until next time!


	12. Punching, Punching, Punching TREES

I'm pleased to say that I have a new chapter up.

Just to warn you guys, I have decided that this fan fiction is going to be somewhat disjointed from the regular Naruto series. I'm going to start doing my own thing with the characters.

Also, I have discovered that I like writing stories with large casts of characters, so that will hopefully give me some more ideas for my real stories. Anyways, on to the next chapter!

XXxxxXX

Maruha stretched and rolled out of bed. But she forgot that she couldn't defy Gravity, so she fell on the floor. Maruha pulled herself up, muttering something about the laws of physics.

Maruha glanced up to the window to see who was tapping on it. It wasn't who she expected, judging by the smile that had been beginning to form, but quickly disappeared. Sasuke stood at the window, glaring in at Maruha.

"You were, like, planning on joining us today, right, Disabled?" Sasuke said. Maruha's eyes got big. There was a sudden flurry of activity and clothes flying everywhere as Maruha got dressed. Surprisingly, Sasuke managed to see nothing but a pajama clad Maruha transfrom into a fully-clothed Maruha. She threw open her window, leapt out past Sasuke, and called out to him,

"Last one there has to buy the other lunch!" Sasuke's eyebrows floated up. Was she serious? Sasuke decided he'd win, just in case she was.

XXxxxXX

Konahamaru, Moegi, and Udon all stared at the empty space where a tree used to be. Three pairs of eyes moved to Sakura's back, three pairs of eyes returned to where the tree now lay. It was displaced by about 3 metres. Which, if you wanted to convert to centimeters would be about 300, and if you wanted to convert to inches...

Konahamaru cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Hey, Sakura. Where'd you learn that?" Sakura turned around and grinned.

"Just figured it out, actually." Moegi's eyes got big.

"How did you do that? Can you show me?" Moegi stood up quickly and took on a shy, but pleading, attitude. Sakura could hardly resist. The kid was so sweet-looking.

"Ah, I guess so." Moegi jumped up and threw her hands in the air. Udon and Konahamaru looked at each other.

"Can you show us, too?" they piped simultaneously. Sakura giggled. They were all so adorable.

"Well, I guess so. How good's your guys' chakura control?"

XXxxxXX

Ebisu pushed his glasses back up his nose. No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find the slipperly little monster of a Hokage's grandson. Konahamaru could be fraternizing with that abominable fox boy. Learning that glorious- cough cough- despicable techinque. He clamped his hands together and concentrated his energy. Konahamaru's chakura signature shouldn't be too hard to pick up. The problem would just lay in getting there before the little snot scampered off, again.

There. There was Konahamaru's chakura. Along with Udon's and Moegi's. And... Sakura's? Ebisu flinched as Sakura's chakura signature spiked dramatically, followed by three smaller spikes from Konahamaru, Udon, and Moegi.

Ebisu didn't waste any time in getting to where the little master was.

XXxxxXX

"That was good! Now, you guys have just got to put a little more focus into WHERE you concentrate your chakura. If you just leave it where it it, it isn't anything LIKE as power-" Ebisu sprung out of a bush like a spring loaded Jack-in-the-Box.

"Young Master! Whatareyoudoing! Areyouallright! Whereintheworldhaveyoubeen... And when did you get so good at chakura control?" After the four younger ninja recovered from their minor heart attacks, Sakura smiled.

"I hope you don't mind, Ebisu-sensei. I've been coaching them in some of my chakura control techniques." Sakura bowed to Ebisu, setting him off of the tirade he was about to begin. "They've been picking it up very quickly." Ebisu adjusted his glasses.

"Hrmm. Well, yes. I noticed that they were doing quite well." Ebisu looked off to a side. "I suppose you can keep working with them, just so long as you don't let Naruto help." Sakura frowned slightly, but quickly recovered her composure.

"Of course not, Ebisu-sensei." Ebisu nodded.

"I'll just go and see ifthe hokage needs me, then..." his voice trailed off. He took one last look at the small group, then bounded off. "At last!" he thought. "A day to myself! I'll go read those Play Ninja magazines that have been piling up in my room..."

XXxxxXX

In other country, rather far away from Konaha, a young, slender blonde was sprinting away from an angry shop keeper.

"Come back and pay for those, you little-" the man rattled off a few... A lot of expletives. Ranging from questioning the blonde's parent's commitment to each other to the species the blonde was. The blonde simply stuck his tongue out over his shoulder and ran faster.

Eventually, the shop keeper lost the blonde. Shortly after the blonde realized that he was safe from the shop keeper, he sat down and started munching on his ill gotten food. Life hadn't been so bad, he reasoned, since he ran away from his village. Food had sometimes been hard to come by, sleep was difficult to get when you constantly had to hide, but he'd been managing. And it was fun. He got to run around more than he ever had, before. It was too bad that he had lost his chance to be a ninja, though.

The blonde's ears perked up. Was that crunching a person? His question was soon answered when he was lifted up by his ankle.

"All right, kid. Give back what you stole," a grouchy voice said. The blonde parted his long hair to peer out at the shop keeper that he thought he had lost. Another glance around showed that the shop keep had brought two 'friends' along.

"Too late," the blonde said. "All ready ate it." He stuck out his tongue, again, but this time, what had originally looked like scars turned out to be small mouths as two extra tongues stuck out from the blonde's palms. The shop keep swore and dropped the blonde. The blonde flipped over and landed on all fours. He then took the opening as a chance to run past the three startled men. The blonde laughed and sprinted away. He decided that it was a good time to move on to a new village.

XXxxxXX

Well, I managed to finish another chapter. I have big plans for this fic, now. Cooking dinner gave me a lot of time to think about the plot. Now, I just have to think as hard about the plot in my real stories. -.-;;

Once again, please feel free to comment if something is amiss in my writings.


	13. Kakashi Was Once A Baby, Too

**Twenty Two Years Ago**

Kakashi stood next to his had insisted that he come to the baby shower for their neighbors, even though he hardly knew them. One of his parents smiled down at him and ruffled his hair.

"Daaad!" Kakashi squaked. Kakashi's father grinned.

"Got you, 'Kashi," his dad said. "I know you're bored with the idea of hanging out with adults, all day, but it won't be for forever." Kakashi grimaced. His father patted his shoulder. "You can probably keep an eye on their little girl." His father winked as if babysitting a squalling, messy baby was a great treat for a five-year-old. Kakashi knew his dad meant well, so he made an especially ugly grimace at his father.

"Kakashi!" his mother yelled. "Behave yourself, young man!" She would have continued to berate him, but it was at th moment that the hosts for the party greeted them. Kakashi was introduced and fauned over, and then was allowed to escape to the refreshment table. Kakashi snatched up a plate and loaded on as many chips as he could hold, then slunk away to a quiet corner.

Occasionally, an adult would talk to him for bit, but it never went on for longer than a few minutes. Kakashi spent most of the party hiding in a corner. At one point, though, the hostess of the party took it upon herself to introduce Kakashi to the baby that the party was for.

The woman made some cooing sounds over the baby, telling it that this boy would be her new friend. She then guided Kakashi up closer, had him introduce himself, then she left the two of them to themselves.

Kakashi looked down at the little baby. She was certainly one of the cuter babies he'd seen. She didn't seem overly chubby or too skinny. Her eyes were what caught his attention, though. When he looked at her, it was as if he was looking at an adult, not the tiny helpless little baby she actually was. She also had a good mop of hair on her head. It was a very light blue, almost white. Kakashi reached down and brushed a lock of it out of her eyes.

She grabbed his hand.

Kakashi braced himself for the slobbery mouth that would surely engulf his hand. To Kakashi's surprise, she didn't slobber on his hand. Instead she tugged on it, looked meaningfully at him, then looked to the book shelf in the room. Kakashi glanced up at the bookshelf.

"Would you really understand them?" Kakashi asked. The baby gave him, if he wasn't mistaken, a 'seriously?' look. Kakshi shrugged and picked out a bright orange book. "How about this one?" The baby nodded. "Okay. 'We have to get out of the village,' Jimmy said. 'The cows are coming and their going to steal my tortillas!'"

XXxxxXX

Kakashi grinned at the blue-haired girl in front of him.

"Found you, Shichi!" he said, gleefully. The girl attempted to glare at him.

"Yes. Yes you did." the blue-haired girl, shichi said. "Come here. I want you to read this part." She held up an orange book to Kakashi. Kakashi took the book and skimmed few a few lines. He laughed.

"Aw, yeah! That was your favorite part, when you were a baby!" Shichi grinned.

"Still is," she said. She giggled, flipping the page of the enormous book compared to her slight, three-year-old frame. "You know, I've read a lot of books in my time, but this is certainly one of the best I've read." Kakashi nodded. He sat down next to her and read over her shoulder.

"So..." Shichi said. "How's school going for you?" Kakashi nodded.

"It's going well. The teacher is nice. We're starting to learn what 'chakura' is. It's a little below my level, but I'm enjoying the easy ride while it lasts." Shichi smiled.

"That's good," she said.

XXxxxXX

Shichi walked into her new class room. She noted that there weren't many other children, yet. Most of them were probably still being woken up by their mothers. Shichi shrugged. She walked to a bench in the middle of the room, sat down, then started to read her favorite bright orange book. She didn't care if this was the seventeenth time she read it, she always enjoyed it. She'd read lots of other books, too, but she liked this one the best. It was fortunate that her mom didn't know about the book. Her eyes would have bugged out like a small rodent's after being stepped on. Shichi giggled at the thought.

Shichi felt a soft poke on her shoulder. She looked up into the bright, cheerful face of a boy with brown hair pulled into a ponytail.

"Hello," he said, nervously. "Would you mind if I sat here?" Shichi eyed him for a minute, then said:

"Go ahead. No one else is." The boy smile with relief and plunked down next to her. Shichi started to read her book, again.

"Sooo... What are you looking forward to?" Shichi frowned slightly at the disturbance. Then she looked thoughtful.

"Chakura control," she said, then went back to reading.

"Oh, yeah! I've heard about that! There are some families that have bloodline traits associated with chakura, don't they?" Shichi looked up from her book, again.

"That's right," she said. She paused.

"I've read lots about chakura! There's all sorts of applications..." The boy started rattling on about all the different chakura techniques and theories. Shichi tried to pay attention. Sh really did. But her eyes kept drifting down towards her page, then jerking up when she realized what she was doing. The boy stopped talking and looked sheepish.

"Am- am I putting you to sleep?" Shichi shook her head.

"Oh, no. I just keep thinking about my book," she said. The boy cheered up a bit. He held out his hand.

"By the way, I'm Iruka!" Shichi took his hand.

"Shichi. Nice to meet you."

XXxxxXX

Shichi was walking home. She glanced up when a voice called out her name. She turned around.

"Hey, Shichi! Would you like to play with me?" Shichi looked at Iruka.

"I'm sorry, Iruka. I've got to get right home."

"Oh... That's okay! I'll see you tomorrow!" The boy waved and bouced away, spirits hardly dampened. Shichi smiled slightly.

XXxxxXX

Kakashi stood before Shichi.

"Right," he said. "You have to take a pose like this. No, no. A little more weight on your toes. Good. Oh, and you hands. No. Yes. No, no. Up, again. Perfect! Hold it!" Shichi started turning blue. "Uhm. Not your breath." Shichi breathed out, relieved. Kakashi grinned. "You'll pick this up, easy! Just watch me closely. I've been practicing this technique for a month, now, so hopefully I'll help you pick it up faster than that. You were good with the last one." Shichi nodded.

"You said that was an easy one, though."

"Still."

"True."

XXxxxXX

Shichi walked out of school, again, closely followed by Iruka, who was happily talking her ear off. Shichi didn't mind. Sh had found that he was a practically interminable resource on chakura control and technique. So she listened, asked questions, and laughed when he told a related joke.

"So," Iruuka said, breaking off from the previous subject. "Would you like to practice on the training field with me?" Shichi looked sad. "Oh. You have to go home quickly?" Shichi shook her head.

"Oh, no. I just agreed to meet with someone else. Say! I'm meeting him at the training grounds! You can come, too. He wanted to practice a technique with me!" Shichi clapped her hands together.

"Perfect! I hope he won't mind...?"

"No, no. He'll be glad to meet you."

XXxxxXX

Shichi rubbed her chin, then looked at the sky. Kakashi still hadn't shown up. She looked at Iruka.

"I'm sorry about this... He's usually so punctual..." Iruka waved it off.

"It's okay. Maybe he was helping that lady with her cat." Shichi giggled.

"That poor cat." Both children giggled, remembering the heavy-set, older lady, fawning over her silly cat with a big, pink bow around it's neck.

"Wait," Shichi said. "I think I see him!" She stood up and ran over to Kakashi. "Kakashi! You're late! What happened?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I was busy." He retorted. Shichi's brow furrowed. Iruka ran up and stopped next to her.

"Hi!" Iruka said, cheerily. "I'm Iruka!" Kakashi eyed the extended hand.

"I'm too old to play with children, now." He turned on his heel and walked away. Iruka's hand drooped like a rotting fish, in much the same way that that sales man's hand droops each time you ask how much that TV costs.

Somewhere, several Best Buy clerks sneezed.

Shichi watched Kakashi walk away. Iruka patted her on the shoulder to console her. She shrugged.

"He's just reached that age. All kids get that way. Then they grow out of it." Iruka raised his eyebrows mid-pat.

"Geez. You sound like a grown-up," he said.

"Well, yeah. I am- uhm." She paused and glanced around nervously. "I am, uhm, a very mature eight-year-old. Yes." She whipped out her orange book. "Wanna here my favorite part of this?"

XXxxxXX

It was the day after Shichi's ninja class had graduated. They were all officially ninja, now. They had been paired into teams of three. All of them, except for Iruka.

"But, but Sensei! I can do the transformation jutsu! I was just... Distracted." The Sensei shook his head.

"Iruka," he said, "You're always distracted. You're always clowning around. You're always vying for attention. You might be able to do this stuff, but you haven't demonstrated it to me." Iruka slouched.

"Al-alright. Thank you, Sensei." Iruka drifted out of the room. He glanced up and looked around the empty hallway. Suddenyl, two boys came skidding around a corner and nearly slid into him.

"'Ruka!" one of them said. "There's this awesome log out at the lake!"

"Yeah!" the other boy piped. "NO ONE can walk across it." Iruka looked at them, as if saying, 'So...?' The boys grinned deviously.

"We dare you to cross it, Iruka."

XXxxxXX

Iruka teetered on the log, swaying dangerously back and forth. His foot slipped out from underneath him. His other foot quickly followed.

Iruka landed easily on his hands.

"Ta-dah!" he yelled to the amassed on-lookers. Several of the kids shreiked, cheered, and whistled. Iruka's eyes scanned the crowd, then landed on a pair of eyes under long, light blue hair. He grinned, lifted up one hand, then jumped to the other, spinning around a little as he did so. As he made to put his other hand down, the first hand lost it's grip. Iruka poked his head out of the water to hear the laughter of everyone around him. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and laughed, too.

He swum back towards the shore and, with the help of another boy, pulled himself out of the water. Jokes were passed around, Iruka laughing the loudest at the ones about him.

Eventually, the crowd dissipated, leaving no one but Iruka and Shichi standing, looking at each other. Shichi pulled out a ook on chakura control and started walking. Iruka followed next to her.

"I, uh, didn't pass the test," he said. Shichi sighed. "I talked to him, and- and he said I could probably have a retest next week." Iruka paused, waiting for a reply. He walked next to her for a few minutes, hoping to hear words of encouragement, fearing no words would come forth.

"Iruka..." Shichi began. Iruka looked to her intently. "Stop showing off. It's hurting your effectiveness as a ninja. And I all ready like you." Iruka perked up and blushed pink.

"Really?"

XXxxxXX

Shichi and Iruka glanced up at the sound of a cough. It was an odd pose they froze in. Shichi had her foot in the air, nearly connexting with Iruka's face, and Iruka was leaned over backwards, hands frozen mid-handsign. They both looked at Kakashi. Kakashi shuffled His feet a bit, then said,

"Your chakura control is a little rough. Would you guys like some help?" Shichi and Iruka grinned.

XXxxxXX

Shichi was walking along, talking animatedly to Kakashi and Iruka when her two teammates popped up. Shichi's eyebrows lifted.

"Oh! Hey, Yoro, Chubi." The two new-comers nodded. The one called Yoro tossed his head back to get tge hair out of his eyes.

"You," he said, indicating Shichi, "Should be training with us." He stuck his thumb into his chest. "Not these losers. We're your teammates." Kakashi frowned. The boy called Chubi looked uncomfortable.

"Yoro," he whispered, "Chill out. She always hangs with these guys." Yoro laughed.

"Can't you do better for yourself, babe? Scarnose here and Old Man Hair have got to suuuck at making out!" Iruka turned red. Shichi's eyes simply narrowed.

"Aww," Kakashi said. "You must be so much better. With all those teddy bears you practice on-" Kakashi easily dodged the fist, foot, and knee that came his way. He grabbed the boy's neck and shoved him into the dirt. "And you're such a good fighter. I never saw that punch coming." Kakashi walked past the boy in the dirt and saunter along down the road.

"S-sorry for him, Shichi," Chubi said. Shichi shrugged, then followed after Kakashi. Iruka looked down at Yoro as his sat up and cough slightly. Iruka kicked him in the face.

"That's for insulting Shichi," he hissed. The three kids then hurried home.

XXxxxXX

Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. It was long, so that's part of my excuse. I know it's a bit of from the norm, but I've had a lot of ideas since last year. I wanted to fill in some back stories and start to form this Naruto world I will call my own.

I wish my writing was little better and more humourous in this chapter, But there wasn't much opening for it. I fit it in where I could. You guys can expect to hear more about Shichi. I'm trying to decide exactly what to do with Maruha, right now, so I may take a chapter or two before I get back to her story.

Also, you can look forward to hearing more from Konahamaru's team. I have plans for those little squirts...


	14. A Chapter in Which Much Happens

Kakashi sat in the hospital bed and thought. Not because he particularly felt like thinking, but because it was all he could do while he recuperated. The nurses had insisted that he wasn't fit for reading, and had hoped that he would sleep more without the book.

Kakashi rubbed his eye. It had been so long ago that he had gotten this eye, but the memory was still fresh. He'd been sent on his first dangerous mission with his team. None of them had really been prepared for it. It was merely luck that let Kakashi make it out alive. He thought back. (A/N: Aaaggg! A flashback!)

His two teammates and friends lay bleeding on the floor. Kakashi looked over at his Sensei, who also lay dead. She had always loved her team, even if she was a little tough at times. Fortunately, Kakashi could sit in peace without fearing that their opponents would rise to strike him again. He pulled himself along the floor towardsone teammate who had just groaned.

"Uchiha? Are you gonna make it?" Kakashi asked. The man coughed. He rolled over.

"I don't think so, Hatake. You?" Kakashi nodded. "Ah. That's fortuitous," the Uchiha said. "Oh." The Uchiha reached forward and gently tapped on the bloddy remains of what had been an eye. "This will cause you trouble." Kakashi rubbed under the missing eye.

"I'll survive," he said. "Don't you worry about me." The Uchiha touched his own eye.

"I have just enough chakura left to fix that. Come here." The Uchiha put one hand over His own eye, one of Kakashi's eye. Kakashi raised his eyebrow.

"What are you-" Kakashi felt the eye socket that had been empty start to fill and expand back to its original shape. "?" The Uchiha sighed, then lay silent, his Sharingan eye still activated from the recently ended battle. Kakashi felt his eye. It seemed to be whole, again. He leaned over the Uchiha and carefully closed the dead man's eyes.

XXxxxXX

Maruha traced a finger along the scar on her face. Then she looked over to Yamanosanaka, who smiled.

"What're ya thinkin' about?" he asked. Maruha put her hand down quickly.

"Nothing," she replied. She paused. "You realize, we've been going out for three months, now?" Yamanosanaka grinned.

"Yes, we have. Mind if I give you something to think about?" Maruha nodded in aquiensence. "There's something special between us, wouldn't you say?" Maruha smiled shyly.

"I think so. Do you?"

"I do. And that's why," Yamanosanaka knelt and pulled out a little box, "I'd like to be with you. 'Til death do us part.'" Maruha's eyes began to tear up.

"R-really?"

XXxxxXX

A blonde, thin boy woke up suddenly. He could have sworn that someone had coughed nearby. Which was odd, since he was in the middle of a forest. He looked down at his hands.

"Did you guys hear that?" he whispered. The hands moved in such a way that suggested that they hadn't. "Still... Get the clay ready." Just then, several anbu leapt out of the surrounding forestry. One of the anbu walked forward and brandished a paper at the boy.

"Deidara," the man began, "You are wanted for the murder of your village leader. Either submit to us now, or we will have no choice but to kill you." Deidara grinned.

"Or, I can just kill you." The blonde tossed two small, clay sculptures at the surrounding anbu. The anbu started to scatter, but a few weren't fast enough. The sculptures exploded, and the blonde ran lauging into the bounced over a few anbu, flinging out explosive sculptures behind him.

An anbu grabbed the blonde's hair. The boy yelled, then lashed out with a fist at the man's stomach. The anbu simpliy yanked the boy's hair backwards. The boy yelled, then started crying.

"Don't touch my HAIR!" he howled. The anbu started lauging.

"Oh, poor little girl!" the man cackled. "Did I mess up your hair style?" The boy struggled feebly against the grip the man had on his hair.

"Laugh at this..." The boy flicked a small butterfly sculpture at the man's arm. The other anbu started closing around the one anbu and the boy. The older, muscular forms stood in contrast with the young, thin form of the boy. The man yanked the boy's head upward by his hair. The boy cried out in pain, tears flowing more freely, now. The boy dropped the several small dragonfly sculptures his hands had been hiding.

The man holding the blonde's hair pulled out a kunai and spun it around his finger.

"It's too bad you had to struggle, kid. We're gonna just have to kill you, now." The blonde muttered something. "What was that, Little Girl?"

"I don't think so." The blonde snapped his fingers. The butterfly that had landed on the anbu man's arm exploded, along with the dragonflies, taking off the one man's arm, and severely injuring aa few more anbu.

The blonde pulled the man's severed arm out of his hair, then ran away from the screaming anbu. As he ran, he rubbed the tears from his face. The boy held up his hands.

"This time, we're finding somewhere more deserted," the blonde, Deidara, said. One of the mouths one his hands spat out a swarm of scukpture hornets. "And we'll use these to keep them off our tracks..."

XXxxxXX

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura sat. They looked at each other.

"It looks like Maruha forgot, again," Sakura said. She sighed.

"Have either of you seen Maruha in the last month?" Sasuke asked. Both blonde and pink hair shook their heads. "I wonder if that guy killed her, finally. At this rate, she'll become a missing-nin..." They all sighed. Naruto leapt up.

"Well, let's get training! She may have disappeared, but we can still become great ninja!" Sasuke and Sakura nodded and stood.

"Right," Sasuke said, "Let's go."

XXxxxXX

Sorry this chapter is short and kinda poorly written. I have all sorts of plans for what I want to do in the story, but I have writer's block for the bridging sections. So, anyways, here's a chapter, and I'll get working on a new one here, shortly.


	15. Chakura Vampire

-Back in the Past-

Kakashi woke up in a hospital bed. For some reason, he felt like he would spend a lot of time in hospital beds.

About 15 years in the future, Kakashi sneezed in his hospital bed.

He looked up at Shichi's and Iruka's faces. Shichi smiled.

"Hey, Kakashi. How're you doing?" Kakashi smiled weakly.

"I'm all right." He rubbed at the bandages over his eye.

"Don't rub at that! The flesh is still healing around that eye. And about that eye..." Kakashi looked up at Shichi.

"Yes?" he said.

"It's a permanent sharingan eye. You're not an Uchiha." Shichi paused.

"Didn't you have an Uchiha as a teammates?" Iruka asked. Kakashi nodded.

"I did. Something must have happened when he died..." Kakashi's voice faded into silence.

"Uhm, well, the Hokage will want to talk to you, after you've recouped. Probably about getting you a new team." Kakashi looked up at Iruka.

"Too bad you and Shichi all ready have teams," Kakashi said.

"Shichi doesn't." Kakashi raised his eye brows.

"Really? What about Yoro and Chubi?" The air around Iruka darkened, dark shadows fell across his face.

"They were being a problem. Severely so. They are no longer her teammates."

XXxxxXX

-A day earlier-

Shichi sat reading her favorite orange book. She glanced up. Her two teammates were walking towards her. She decided not to look up.

"Shichi. Babe. Look at me." Shichi also decided to ignore them. Until she sensed a hand drifting towards her with bad intentions. She kicked the hand, then snapped her book shut to look at Yoro grinning at her and Chubi trying to hide a smirk.

"No." She went back to her book.

"You never talk to us outside of missions, girl!" Yoro slid an arm over Shichi's shoulders. "Why could that possibly be?"

"Get. Your. Hands. Off. Her." Shichi, Yoro, and Chubi all looked at Iruka. Shichi jerked out from under Yoro's arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is she yours?" Yoro asked Iruka. "If she was, you weren't defending your territory well enough." Yoro reashed out with every intention of hooking Shichi's arm. Every intention of pulling her close and making Iruka squirm. Sadly, that intention was suddenly forgotten as Yoro slid fifty feet, giving him the world's worst rug burn. Iruka straigtened.

"She isn't property," he said. Iruka looked over to where Shichi had been, but wasn't anymore. He looked behind himself just in time to see Shichi grab Chubi. Chubi dropped the kunai he had been holding. Shichi's arms started glowing as waves of blue chakura moved from Chubi to Shichi. As each second passed, Chubi looked closer and closer to passing out. Finally, he collapsed and Shichi dropped him.

"Great," Shichi said. "Now I have to find a way to burn off the extra chakura." Yoro stood up and howled. Iruka raised his eyebrows.

"Mind if I have some?" Iruka asked. Shichi obliged.

XXxxxXX

-Back in the present-

Kakashi raised his eyebrows.

"Aren't you going to tell me what happened?" he asked. Iruka shook his head.

"We talked to Hokage. He agreed with my point of view."

"Okay. So..." Kakashi paused. "What about you, Iruka?" Iruka shook his head.

"Never got a team. I just passed the Genin and Chuunin tests, so I'm kinda short a team." Iruka shrugged. Kakashi stroked his chin.

"So... You guys are my new teammates, right?" Shichi and Iruka grinned.

XXxxxXX

Well, guys. It's a short chapter, but it's another chapter. If you feel like it, tell me what you think of the new Shichi Saga. It may influence what I write next. 'Til next time!


	16. Awakening Feelings

Chapter 16-Awakening Feelings

"Great." thought Sakura as she glowered at the empty training grounds. "I'm the first one here. Might as well start warming up."

Sakura walked over to the nearest tree and breathed in slowly as she closed her eyes for a moment to focus on her chakra. After a moment she flicked her eyes open and smashed her fist into the tree while letting out a loud shout, causing the tree to break and fall over.

"Chaaaaa!"

"AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGG!" the tree screamed.

"... Arg?" Sakura asked the air as she pause for a moment, perplexed. Suddenly the tree branches started rustling and a moment later Sasuke emerged.

"You know, you could have checked to see if someone was in the tree BEFORE you smashed it." Sasuke groaned as he rubbed his back.

"Um ... are you alright?" Sakura asked, still slightly stunned to find that someone had been in the tree she just punched.

"I'm fine; just a little sore." Sasuke paused. "Wanna train for a bit together before Naruto shows up?"

"Sure! Don't expect me to go easy on you though just because you fell out of a tree," Sakura said as she got in a fighting stance.

"I wouldn't expect you to," Sasuke chuckled.

XXxxxXX

Much later, Saske and Sakura both lay sprawled out, panting on the once solid ground of the training field. Trees lay scattered across the ground, like shiney new pennies strewn across cobblestones.

"I almost feel sorry for the gardener. It must be hard replacing the trees," Sakura gasped out in between breaths.

"They'll figure something out," Sasuke panted. "After all, they're used to cleaning up after ninjas."

"True," said Sakura as she began to breathe more easily.

"You've definitely improved over the past few weeks. It's a lot harder to hit you and to avoid getting smashed like a tree nowadays," Sasuke commented.

"Thanks!" Sakura smiled. "It's funny remembering that I would have fainted at even the thought of hitting you not too long ago," Sakura giggled. "I'd have been so afraid I might actually hurt you."

"Well you certainly didn't hold back this time," Sasuke said as he rolled over onto his side, wincing slightly. "It's nice not having to worry about whether or not you're stalking me after training, like some people."

The ground shook slightly as quite a few Sasuke fangirls sneezed simultaniously.

"Kids nowadays," the Hokage wheezed, as his secretary picked him up out of the papers now strewn across the room.

"I wonder what's taking..." Sakura started.

"OHMYGOSHI'MSOLAAAATTTTEEEEE!" Naruto bellowed as he leapt, okay fell, out of bed. He then hurried to get untangled from the bedsheets now wrapped arond his legs before leaping into his clothing and flying out of the door at top speed. The spider that had been working so hard to make a web in Naruto's door frame now watched sadly as it's life's work ran off stuck to the face of a brightly colored ninja. It decided it didn't like that web anyways and decided to make a new one in one of Naruto's windows.

XXxxXX

"I'm sorry I'm late guys!" Naruto gasped as he stumbled unto the training grounds, nearly falling into a giant chasm.

"Look who decided to show up," Sasuke grinned. "I think you're a bit late for Halloween though."

"Wha...?" Naruto gasped.

"There's a spider web on your face, Naruto," Sakura sighed. "Don't you ever clean your house?"

"What happend to the training grounds!" Naruto gasped as pulled the spider web off of his face.

"Sakura and I decided not to wait for you or Disabled to start training." Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe you can try fixing the place up a bit before the gardener shows up. We're going out for some lunch now. See ya."

Naruto babbled a bit as Sakura and Sasuke wandered off together, chatting merrily. Naruto sighed and looked at the terrain around him.

"How am I supposed to 'fix' this," He asked the air in general.

XXxxXX

Surprisingly enough, this chapter was not written by me, Salistina, but was contributed by my sister, Sokara. I was amazed when I read it and only had to correct a few things. I might add, however, that I've not read my sister's writings since she was in 7th grade. Much time has passed since then.

So, should you like to show your support for a developing writer, feel free to review for my sister.


	17. Dead Wanker

I think that, since talking to Sokara about this story, I've broken through some of my writer's block with Maruha. I'll be writing about her some, this chapter. Enjoy!

XXxxxXX

-Six Months Since Maruha Disappeared-

Kakashi entered his favorite bookstore on crutches. It would be a while before he could walk without the extra stability and balance that the crutches provided.

As he hobbled by the romance section, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the nervous red-head that had hidden there only a few months previous. Kakashi, not being optomistic on the subject, figured Sanakano... -momo? -chocho? Whatever that man's name was, had probably slit her throat while she lay asleep. Kakashi shrugged the thought off. If he could deal with the loss of a friend that was like a little sister, he could deal with the loss of a cute, but ignorant ditz of a red-head.

Kakashi hobbled into the Science Fiction section of the store.

XXxxxXX

Maruha sneezed. She then went back to stirring the pot of stew she was working on. Yamanosanaka strolled into the kitchen of the small apartment they were renting until they could save up for a house. He took an exaggerated sniff of the air in the kitchen. He then slid an arm over Maruha's shoulder.

"How's dinner coming, Hime-chan?" he asked. Maruha smiled warmly at him.

"Almost done," she answered. "Ooh. There's a big chunk of meat in here. Can you pass me the knife?" He grinned.

"Of course." The man pulled the knife out of the knife block. He eyed it. It didn't really have a hilt. It was a better slashing weapon. He looked up at the woman he called wife. Her back was currently facing him.

"Why do you delay so in killing her?" Orochimaru hissed, not fifteen minutes earlier. "I would think that you actually HAD fallen in love with her, the way you're acting..." Yamanosanaka spread his hands out infront of himself.

"Maybe I have," Yamanosanaka said. "All the same, she trusts me inherently, now." Orochimaru grinned.

"Well, then. I guess that tonight should be the perfect opportunity, yesss?"

Yamanosanaka glanced down at his knife, again.

"This one, Maru-chan?" he said as he held the knife up to her throat. Maruha gasped, then laughed.

"Ooh, you got me, Yama. I wasn't keeping my guard up." She leaned back and smiled at him. Her smile began to falter, though, as the knife was pressed harder into her throat. "Yama?" A bead of blood ran down on to her collar. "Darling?" Yamanosanaka faltered at those eyes, those sweet, loving, questioning eyes.

"You killed my brother," he hissed, then whipped the knife the rest of the way along. Maruha crumpled to the floor. Yamanosanaka sighed.

He crouched down next to the limp form. "You were all right looking, and all, but just not really my type." Yamanosanaka sighed again. "Would have liked to enjoy that body of yours a bit, but, you know, time passed too quickly." He stood up and strolled out of the kitchen.

"You bastard..." A/N: Sorry kiddies... Yamanosanaka glanced back. Maruha's eyes were now glowing blue, the cut that he had left on her neck was sizzling and steaming and, very slowly, closing up. Yamanosanaka's eyebrows floated up.

"Is this," he wondered, "How my brother died?" Suddenly, Maruha rocketed forward, slamming into the man before her. He flew out through the window, spraying shards of glass everywhere. He started to twist around, like a falling cat. When he looked down, glowing eyes greeted him. He formed several handsigns, but never finished his jutsu. Maruha swung her leg into his chest, propelling him into the ground. She landed lightly next to him.

Yamanosanaka coughed.

"Hime-chan..." Maruha shoved a tree branch into his eye, then watched as he writhed and screamed, then lay still.

Slowly, her eyes faded back to their bright green, and tears replaced the glow of chakura. She dropped to her knees, picked up Yamanosanaka's torso, and held his limp corpse to her chest as she sobbed.

XXxxxXX

Deidara woke up. He looked around himself.

"Sensei?" he looked around, then stood up. He could have sworn he'd felt his Sensei's trademark chakura signature. He looked down to his hands. "Did you feel it?" The hands seemed to have. "Okay. Let's go find her..." He started running.

XXxxxXX

Maruha looked up into the red sunrise, still clutching the cold corpse of her late husband.

There's that sunrise we always loved, Yama, she thought. She looked up as a bush suddenly leapt out at her.

"Sensei!" the bush yelled. The bush then shook itself to reveal a boy with long blonde hair.

"Deidara?" Maruha dropped the corpse and turned to face her old student. The boy ran up and hugged Maruha. Maruha blinked. "Y-you're alive?" Tears welled up anew in her eyes. "Oh, Kami. I thought I had killed you with that Kage..." The boy shook his head and grinned.

"I'm not that easy to kill off." Deidara looked down at the rotting carcass of a man. "Who's that wanker?" he asked. "Another person trying to kill you?" Maruha laughed.

How ironic, she thought.

"He was. He's not a problem, now, though." She stood up. "So, tell me what's been up with you?"

XXxxxXX

Eventually, Kakashi made to the training grounds, where he was to train his team for the first time since he woke up in the hospital. He looked up at the crimson sunrise that graced the sky. He realized that it was still several hours before when he would be meeting with his young students, but he couldn't get back to sleep. So Kakashi sat down on the rock that was the memorial for all the ninja that had been killed in action. He watched the sunrise turn from crimson, to a red-orange, to a faint yellow, and finally to a pale blue.

Kakashi noted that the blue was remarkably similar to the hair color of Shichi, whose name was now on the rock he sat on. Kakashi wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

"SENSEI! YOU'RE ON TIME, FOR ONCE!" Kakashi fell over. Naruto looked sheepish as he helped Kakashi back on to his crutches. "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, it's just that you're never on time..." Kakashi smiled and ruffled the young blonde's hair.

"There was once a time where I was always impecably on time." Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"I don't believe that, not even one little bit." Naruto demonstrated just how small a little bit was with his fingers. Sakura and Sasuke walked over to Kakashi and Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei! How are you doing?" Sakura asked. She eyed the crutches. "Do the nurses know you're training us?" Kakashi patted her head.

"I'm doing fine. And yes, they do. I got express permission from them."

"We-ell..." the lead nurse said. "Ye can hardly call your poor excuse for a shuffle a capable walk, let alone ninja training condition, but they won't let me keep ye here as long as Ah'd like."

Kakashi shuddered at the memory.

"So, I've heard that Sakura has learned a new trick, that Sasuke is apparently not gay, and that Naruto is... Still Naruto. Care to update me?" The Sakura and Naruto grinned. Sasuke said:

"Wait, what?" Sakura punched the ground, creating huge fissures around her. Naruto and Sasuke flipped out of the way. Kakashi stood on his crutches, forming handsigns rapidly.

As the dust cleared from the air, Sakura was revealed to be standing on one of the last solid pieces of ground. Sasuke and Naruto were sitting up in a tree, grining and banging fists. Kakashi was revealed to be standing exactly where he had been before, his eyes shut tight. As the rest of the dust cleared, a huge pile of dogs of various sizes were unveiled underneath Kakashi. The dogs on top of the pile were split between having the crutches resting on heads, a foot being held on to with a mouth, and the other foot being supported by a paw.

"Wow, Sakura. Good job." Kakashi carefully stepped off of the pile of dogs to Sakura's patch of ground. The dogs that had had crutches planted in their head whined slightly before dispersing.

"Now, you guys just have to learn how to work together." Naruto and Sasuke leapt down from the tree. Somewhere, someone screamed as they fell into a gaping chasm.

"Hey, Sakura. Your hair looked pretty neat when you punched the ground..." Sasuke said. Sakura raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah! It was all 'FWOOSH' as it flew out behind you, and your eyes were all 'DIE, MO-FOO, DIE!'" Naruto said as he high-fived a slightly startled Sakura.

"Uh, thanks, Naruto, Sasuke." Kakashi smiled to himself.

That proves the last two items, he thought.

XXxxxXX

Well, this chapter may be short, but it's a good breaking point.

All right, kiddies. Japanese Lesson Time!

'Chocho' - butterfly

'Momo' - peach

'no' - equivalent to 's

'Sanaka' - fish

'Yama' - mountain

'Hime-chan' - can be thought of as 'little princess.' Hime means princess, and -chan is used to imply familiarity, generally for young girls. Thus, Ino calls Sakura 'Sakura-chan.'

Hope that makes the story more fun to read.

And sorry this took me so long to post. I've had it written for a while, but, you know, exams keep popping up. It's like they're following me...


	18. Shadows

-Back in the Past-

Shichi, Iruka, and Kakashi all stood stock still, eyeing each other warily. Shichi deepened her stance slightly.

She leapt forward. Kakashi shifted his weight to the side to dodge Shichi's kick. Shichi planted her foot back down. Iruka flung a kunai at Shichi, who dodged, then decided to turn the dodge into a fall to avoid the punch from Iruka and chakura burst from Kakashi.

Iruka then punched downward at Shichi, filling his fist with chakura. Shichi caught his fist, drained the chakura, then kicked him away from her. Iruka landed and slid for a few feet before running back. Shichi sat up, then swung her leg around, intending to knock Kakashi's feet out from under him.

Kakashi jumped up, then swung his leg down in a kick. Shichi side-stepped the leg, then caught the fist. Kakashi collect up a ball of chakura up in his wrist, then shot it out through his hand, shoving him and Shichi in opposite directions. Iruka flung out a barrage of shuriken at Kakashi. Kakashi's eyes widened.

He back-flipped out of the way of the falling projectiles, and instead ran into an all ready grouchy secretary.

"Will you munchkins stop clowning around?" the secretary screeched. Iruka, Shichi, and Kakashi froze. "Anyways... Team Kakashi! Your Hokage has an assignment for you. Report to him immediately." All three ninja saluted, then bounded off into the trees.

XXxxxXX

A few minutes later, three ninjas jumped through an open window in the Hokage's office.

"Lord Hokage!" they all chirped. The blonde-haired Hokage rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Kami, you guys. Don't use the window..." The Hokage sighed. "Anyways. It looks like there might be an incoming danger to Konaha. How many of you have ever heard of the Nine-Tailed Fox?" All three young faces looked blank. "None of you? Oh, Kami. What do they teach kids, anymore? Well. All you really need to know, I guess, is that it is a giant fox with chakura. It doesn't normally concern itself with people, but I have a feeling that there's someone manipulating it to act otherwise." Three heads nodded. "Now, the fox's travel path seems to be heading directly for Konaha. That's where you three come in. I want you to all track down the fox and find out who IS manipulating it." Team Kakashi nodded, again. "All right. You'll want to go see the Anbu department head to get further instructions. Off you scoot." Hokage shooed them off through the door, then shut it.

"Gahhh... Kids. Mine better not turn out like that."

XXxxxXX

Iruka tapped politely on the Door to the head of Anbu's office. After a short pause, a voice could be heard saying,

"Come in!" The three of them filed into the room and stood expectantly infront of the man who ran Anbu. The man, who was wearing a mask that resembled a chicken, peeked over a huge pile of paper work.

"I'm guessing Lord Hokage sent you?" Kakashi and Shichi nodded. Iruka was too busy staring at all the piles of paperwork lying around the room. "All right. This," the man with a chicken face held out a sheaf of papers, "Is all the information you'll need to know. Burn it when you're done." Kakashi took the papers and flipped through them.

"Uh, sir? None of this information seems confidential. Why burn it?"

"Because I don't want to file it. So j-ju-" the Anbu man sneezed, knocking over three piles. Team Kakashi stared intently at the pile of papers that now covered the head of the Anbu department. After some sounds like those of a cat digging in a litter box, a hand clawed its way to the surface. The hand flopped around for a bit, but, upon discovering that it was the only member of the body to be freed, sagged.

"Just, uhm, burn the papers and send someone in to dig me out, okay?" a muffled voice said.

"Okay!" Iruka said.

"What?"

"OKAY!"

"Geez, all right. You don't have to yell..."

XXxxxXX

Shichi looked up as a thunder clap shattered the calm silence. Almost immediately after, a torrential downpour of rain began.

"Great," she muttered. She looked at Iruka and Kakashi, who wore equally sour looks. "At least we're not Inuzuka, or we'd have a harder time tracking this guy." Iruka nodded. He turned to Kakashi.

"Anything?" he asked. Kakashi shook his head.

"Nothing. It looks like this lead is another dead end." All three sighed heavily. The weather seemed to reflect their moods, for the sky got darker and the rain got colder. "Ehh. Let's hide in a tree for a while and eat something." All three ninja darted forward and sprung into a tree.

Iruka pulled out a foil-wrapped food bar.

"Shall we discuss our strategy?" Iruka suggested. Shichi and Kakashi nodded.

"Not a bad idea. Shichi, you should probably hang back because- Wait. Did you hear that?" All three ninja sat tensed up. Kakashi pointed off to where the sound had come from, put a finger to his lips, then leapt away silently.

Kakashi landed next to a bush, then leapt behind it. Iruka brushed a strand of soggy hair out of his face. His eyebrows lifted. He whipped around to look behind himself, made the same motions as Kakashi, then leapt away. Shichi pushed the hair out of her eyes and sat crouched in the tree, shivering.

She sat and waited. And waited. She remained motionless, hoping for a signal from one of the others. She looked over to where she saw a dark shape beckoning to her. She leapt down from the tree and ran over to the shadow. A bolt of lightning flashed, revealing that there was no one there.

Shichi's eyebrows crinkled. Surely she had seen...? She shook her head. They must've figured she was following and went on ahead. She sprinted on ahead.

XXxxxXX

Kakashi slid into the clearing where he expected to find Iruka and Shichi waiting. He looked up at the tree branch. There were two dark figures. He ran over and leapt into the tree.

To find no one.

Kakashi glanced around. Maybe they had heard something and gone to check it out? Or maybe this was the wrong tree. Lightning flashed. Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi saw blue hair disappear into the trees. He lowered his eyebrows and leapt towards where he'd seen the hair.

XXxxxXX

Iruka ran a finger through the blood on the tree trunk. Apparently, there was someone here. He crouched down and looked at the ground. There was no scuffed up dirt, no imprints. So why was there blood? Iruka glanced up. There was a shadow beckoning to him.

"Shichi?" Lightning flashed. Nothing? But... Wait. "Oh, no..." he breathed.

XXxxxXX

Iruka ran back into the clearing where he'd left Shichi. He looked around frantically. She wasn't here. But, wait. There went Kakashi. Iruka ran up to Kakashi. Kakashi looked at him.

"Where's Shichi?" Iruka hissed. Kakashi shrugged, then pointed.

"I think I just saw her go this way," he whispered back.

"We need to find her. Fast." Kakashi raised his eyebrows. "We can't be separate. We'll all die..."

XXxxxXX

Shichi pushed a branch away from her face. There was that shadow, again. Still beckoning. She squinted. Whoever was leading her was taking her to where it was darker. Lightning flashed. Only part of the shadow disappeared.

"What the-"

XXxxxXX

Okay, guys. I'll try to get the chapter up, soon!


	19. White Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was the last chapter I wrote for about three years before I started writing them again. Which just so happened to be today. It took me since 2009 to write all the story that you see here. A lot happened during that time. But! I'm back up and writing! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Shichi ran away. She slid to a stop. Huge shadows blocked the path she was going towards. She turned around.

"I don't know if Kakashi or Iruka can here me," she thought, "but I'll at least send off a chakura burst..." Shichi started running the other direction and forming handsigns. A shadow tentacle whipped out at her. She dodged, but broke her handsign combo while doing so. "They're... Herding me," she thought. She turned around, then dodged a tentacle. She glanced behind her at the darkness, then back forward.

Lightning flashed. The shadows shrank back, then surged forward with renewed vigor. Shichi dodged and jumped to avoid the tentacles as they lashed out. Each of her movements took her further into the darkness of the trees.

Feeling desperate, Shichi took a chakura enhanced leap forward. She was knocked down mid-leap as a tentacle swung up and caught her around the stomach. Shichi struggled, pulled out a shuriken and hurled it at the tentacle. The tentacle easily dodged the projectile, then split in two. The new, separate tentacle wrapped around her arms.

Slowly, the tentacle lowered and started creeping back into the darkness. Shichi started to panic.

"No," she thought. "Nononononooo... Okay. Wait. Gotta chill. Calm down." She started breathing deeply. "Okay." She closed her eyes, then started visualizing handsigns and focusing her chakura.

A burst of lightning erupted out of her form, causing the shadow tentacles to curl away and drop her. She landed on all fours, then looked up at the tentacled shadow monster. She started forming handsigns rapidly and chakura started pulsing up and down her arms.

Just then, Kakashi and Iruka erupted out of the trees. Iruka formed a few quick handsigns. Shichi's eyes faded to a pale blue and she stood motionless. Iruka's hands burst out into flame. Kakashi focused his chakura, then created a whirlwind around himself. Iruka threw two fireballs into Kakashi's whirlwind. Kakashi used the whirlwind to spread the fire all around the clearing, surrounding the three of them and shadow monster. Shichi slowly brought her fingers up to her temples, looking intently at the monster as it writhed around, trying to find a way out of the ring of flames. Iruka ran up next to Shichi. He closed his eyes for a minute, then opened them. A small string of energy stretched from Shichi's forhead to Iruka's and his eyes now matched hers. He whipped out a a kunai, then charged forward. He leapt up to dodge a tentacle as it lashed out. He flung the kunai into the spot that Shichi's shared sight indicated as the heart of the creature.

The monster thrashed around and started dissolving into mist. Lightning flashed, and the monster melted into a mist that lurked on the ground a minute before dissipating.

Kakashi strolled casually up to Shichi and Iruka. Iruka blinked, clearing his eyes. Both boys turned to Shichi, who remained motionless, with eyes white. She looked up to a tree branch. A man jumped down from the branch. He wore a long black robe and spiky, black hair.

"You know," the man said, "No one can usually defeat my shadows." Shichi's eyes faded back to their usual color. "I never expect it from three... Children. Nevermind! Here." The man took a stance familiar to them all. Shichi, Iruka, and Kakashi all lower their stances. Kakashi and Iruka took forward positions and Shichi hung back.

The man lunged forward. Kakashi and Iruka met him midway, punching and kicking. The man dodged most of the blows. Shichi hung back, almost unsure of what to do. The man ducked underneath Kakashi and Iruka's attacks, swept behind Shichi, then grabbed her. The man grinned.

"One more step, boys, and I'll kill your little healer." Shichi laughed, then started draining the man of his chakura. The man's eyebrows rose "Oh? Well, just how much chakura can you take, little girl?" Shichi gasped as the man started forcing his energy into her.

Kakashi and Iruka stood tensed, ready to help at an instant's notice.

Shichi's eyes started glowing blue. Her hair started wafting up, as if she was building up static electricity. The man gritted his teeth. Shichi's eyes took on the appearance of blue flames. Shichi's hair flew up and started glowing. Kakashi's eyebrows lowered.

"Where's all the energy going?" he asked Iruka. "She can't store it all, can she?" Shichi's head rocked back as her hair started flaming blue energy. Licks and spurts of the energy flew out of her hair, dissipating in the surrounding atmosphere. Suddenly, the man released his grip on Shichi and fell to the ground. Shichi kicked him.

"That hurt," she yelled at the limp form. Iruka walked up and put a hand on her shoulder. Iruka then crouched down and put a finger on the man's wrist, then put his ear to his mouth. He lifted the man's eyelids, then stood.

"He's dead. Let's go home."

"Wait," Shichi said. She crouched down and pulled out a knife. "The report said we should bring back evidence that we killed him, if we managed to." Kakashi looked at Shichi.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Shichi said.

"He certainly has unique eyes," Iruka stated. "Red with black commas. Odd that it's permanent though." Kakashi lightly touched the head band where it covered his eye.

XXxxxXX

And thank you all for your reviews. They really mean a lot. And for those of you favoriting my story, that means just as much.

Quick question, before I sign off: Do my characters seem flat to you? Not enough personality or uniqueness of personality?


	20. A Presence Is Felt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My first new chapter in several years! Enjoy!

A/N: You guys must hate me for making you wait this long. I'm sorry to say that Life Happened and that I had to focus on stuff that wasn't writing. But! I'm back and with a vengeance! Writing is just gonna be a hobby for me, I think. At least story writing. I'm working on some comics, silly and serious. Fanfiction writing should keep my brain active!   
Now, on to the story! When we last left our intrepid heroes...

XXxxxXX

Maruha listened intently as Deidara told her his story. Apparently, he had been up to as much trouble as he could get himself into. He gesticulated with his hands as he described his various close-calls, laughing like the child he was. There was a part of his story that caught her notice, though.  
"Wait," Maruha said. "You said that the ninjas were blaming you for the death of our village leader?" Deidara flashed a toothy grin up at Maruha.  
"Hilarious, right? They never even knew it was you!" He laughed. Maruha dropped to her knees and pulled Deidara into a tight hug.  
"Oh, Dei... I'm so sorry. I thought you were dead. I- I never wanted to abandon you." Deidara hugged her back.  
"'s okay, Sensei. I'm here, now." He nuzzled her shoulder affectionately. Maruha patted his head, then stood up.   
"So tell me about your new art!" she said.

XXxxxXX

Kakashi’s eyes flew open. He sensed something he hadn’t sensed in a long time. It was a brief flash, but it was unmistakable. She was still out there. He jumped out of bed, then suddenly remembered that he couldn’t stand without his crutches. He rubbed his now sore face and pulled himself along the ground on his belly until he got to the crutches.   
He limped himself out of his apartment as fast as he could. Kakashi figured Sasuke would at least have felt it, too. Potentially even Naruto and Sakura. He decided to stop by their houses to get them. He came to Naruto’s apartment first.  
“Geez, Sensei. It’s three a.m.” Naruto said as he answered the door. “Sensei?” He looked up at Kakashi. “I’ll be ready in a few seconds.” Naruto shut the door, then popped open again. This time, he was not wearing his pajamas. Sasuke landed next to Kakashi, closely followed by Sakura.  
“Sensei? Did you sense-?” Sasuke asked with a pause. Kakashi nodded. Sakura stifled a yawn.  
“Are you guys going to tell us what’s going on or not?” she asked.  
“It’s Maruha,” Kakashi said. “I felt her chakura blast not too long ago.” Kakashi started limping off.  
“Sensei? Why do you even care?” Kakashi turned around to face Sakura. He looked at her. “I- I mean, she’s been gone for so long. And she was dating this guy. And if she’s still alive… Do you really think she’ll want to see us? I mean, we didn’t part on the best of terms.” Kakashi lowered his gaze.  
“No, you’re right, Sakura. I guess I just thought something might be different.” Kakashi started limping off again.  
“Wait! Kakashi-sensei!” Kakashi slowly turned around again. “She’s still my friend!” Naruto said. Sasuke nodded.  
“Mine, too.” Sakura looked at her feet.  
“I guess she was mine, too.” Kakashi looked at his three students. Again. He probably needed spectacles, since he had to keep looking to see them.  
“Well, then I guess we should go pay her a visit,” Kakashi said. He turned around. Again. Then paused. “You’re not going to say something that’ll force me to turn around again, are you?”

XXxxxXX

Short, I know. It’s been a couple years, in my defense, though. I’m suuuper out of practice with writing. And I’m not sure that I remember all of what I wanted to happen in this story. But, anyhoo! I’m going to try to update it again, regularly! I want to find out about the mysterious death of Shichi, same as you guys!

And to my subscribers: I ask your forgiveness and that you please don’t summon a demon to eat my soul.


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